Impressions Arn't Everything
by AsteriskTSE
Summary: A figure shows up in Konoha for a tournament, and his opponents suffers bizzare injuries. Who is he, and what his intentions are the questions on everyone's mind. Takes place after Time Skip,Assume Spoilers.Some Bad Humor...Meh, who knows what I will writ
1. You Have Creepy Eyes

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Chapter 1

Your Eyes are Creepy

"Please Sakura-chan…" pleaded Naruto.

Sakura sighed, "Alright Naruto, but just this once."

Naruto jumped out and down with joy as he grabbed Sakura's arm and started plowing through the streets of Konoha, Sakura in tow. 'He's impossible,' ran through Sakura's mind as she wondered why she agreed to got on a date with Naruto after he asked for the umpteenth time this week. 'I've got a feeling where he'll be taking me too,' she thought as she realized what direction they were moving. This suspicion was confirmed as Naruto stopped and she looked before her to see the ramen stand which Naruto is a patron of.

Naruto let go of Sakura's hand a ducked around the flap, "Hey Old Man, I'd…" he started before a very annoyed expression covered his face, "HEY YOU, YOUR IN MY SEAT."

Sakura ducked around the store's flap in time to see the person Naruto was shouting at shift his from the seat he was in to the seat to the left of it. The person had shoulder-lengthed white hair and was clad in black cloths. Sakura watched as Naruto took his seat still giving the person an annoyed expression. Sakura sat to Naruto's right as Naruto turned back to the owner and placed his order.

"Yes, Yes, I would like red beef ramen and and what would you like Sakura-chan," Naruto said in his more cheerful tone.

"Oh, I'll have miso ramen," ordered Sakura.

"Mmm, good choice," mumbled a male voice next to Naruto.

"And just who asked you?" said Naruto, apparently still annoyed that this person was sitting in his seat.

"Naruto!" Sakura slammed her fist on the top of Naruto's head, "that's being rude," She turned to the person, "I apologize for my friend. He's a little slow in the head if you know what I mean."

The person looked up from their bowl of ramen and turned toward them with his eyes closed and an almost comical grin on his face, "Oh, I know what you mean, I used to have a friend just like him."

Sakura removed her fist from the top of Naruto's head and turned to find that there was a bowl of ramen sitting in front of each of them. 'That was fast,' she thought as she reached to grab a pair of chopsticks.

"Uhh! You have NO EYES!" Naruto shouted.

Once again her fist dropped on the top of Naruto's head as she turned to the guy again, "I'm sorry…" she trailed off.

The person's smile turned into an unreadable expression, and his eyelids where now open, revealing… nothing. 'Does he really have no eyes?' she asked herself removing her fist from the top of Naruto's head again. 'Wait, no, their reflecting the light… he does have eyes… two glassy…'

"Black eyes," she heard herself say.

"Yeah, well people have different colored eyes, mine just happened to be completely black," the person said, still in a somewhat pleasant tone.

"Oh… I'm sorry…" Sakura started feeling a bit guilty.

"Uhh… No need," the person said waving a hand, "I'll admit, my eyes do look a little odd, and people are usually a little uncomfortable when they first see them."

Still Sakura felt a little bad. After having seen Kiba, Neji, Gaara, and Kakashi's eyes, completely black eyes shouldn't be that much of a spectacle. 'Though, I've never read anything about that in any medical books regarding eyes. He must not be around a local, though, why would he be here?'

"A little uncomfortable, your eyes are downright creepy!" shouted Naruto, who was somehow able to yell and inhale ramen at the same time.

Sakura was about to drop another fist on the top of Naruto's head, but was stopped midway landing on the palm of the person on the other side of Naruto. The person's grip was rather light, but his hand felt a little cold.

"There's no need," he said releasing Sakura's hand.

"Are you sure, Naruto does act like a complete idiot and needs to eventually get that out of his system," Sakura noted.

"Yeah, well like I said I had a companion that was a lot like him, and we used to beat him a lot for his loud mouth," the stranger said ruffling Naruto's hair with his hand, much to Naruto's annoyance, "but he didn't get any smarter by blasting out his brain cells like that."

Sakura laughed for a bit from that comment and ate a little bit of her ramen, before remembering what she was originally going to ask him.

"Oh yeah, you're not from around here are, you?" She asked.

"No," he answered.

"Then why are you here?" Sakura asked.

"There's a ninja tournament that is happening in a couple of days," he said turning up from his bowl of ramen, "Unlike that Chunin exam, this is supposed to only be very skilled Jonin. I couldn't let the opportunity pass by… but uhh… I guess you already know about it being ninja yourselves… are either of you in it?"

"No," said Sakura.

"I'm not but I should be," stated Naruto, finally speaking again after finishing his… fifth bowl of ramen.

"Are you a Jonin?" the stranger asked Naruto.

"No," answered Naruto, then after a pause, "I'm still a Genin."

"Well then you should be happy that you aren't, you'd probably get massacred," that stranger said with a bit of a chuckle.

"No I wouldn't!" yelled Naruto, "I _would_ be a Jonin now, if I didn't leave the village for three years."

"Left the village," the stranger said giving Naruto a skeptical look, "I thought they hunted down ninja who go missing and kill them."

"No, No, I was training under Ero-sennin," said Naruto with a grin.

"Ero-sennin?" asked the stranger, clearly confused.

"Jiraiya-sama," Sakura answered, knowing Naruto never referred to him as anything other than Ero-Sennin.

"Jiraiya?" the stranger looked flabbergasted, "He should be an old man by now."

"Yeah, Yeah, but he taught me jutsus like the Rasengan," Naruto said, not passing up the chance to gloat.

"Rasengan?" a slight look of seriousness fell on the stranger's face, "I though the only person who could do that was…" he trailed off sorta gazing off.

"The Fourth Hokage," Sakura finished.

"Yeah," the stranger said, snapping out of his gaze.

"Yeah, well now Ero-sennin and I can do it too," said Naruto, still happy to be gloating to a stranger, "Wait, did you know the Fourth Hokage?"

"Huh?" the stranger turned to him, "Yeah, uhh… well I knew him a long time ago, before went by the name Hokage, though."

Sakura choked on her ramen and turned toward him. 'Before the fourth was given the name Hokage?' she eyed him, 'he looks like he's about twenty, that would mean he couldn't be older than four years old when he met him…'

"I was a younger then," the stranger added, seemly reading Sakura's mind, then looked like he was thinking intently on something.

After a minute of silence, Sakura decided to try to start up some conversation, though not really wanting to talk to Naruto all that much, "Oh, even though we aren't competing in the tournament, we do know people who will be."

"Really? Do you mind telling me who?" the stranger asked turning back to them.

"Well uhh… Kankuro and Temari from the Sand, and Gai and Kakashi-sensei from here," Sakura answered.

"Kakashi…" started the stranger looking intrigued, "as in _The_ copy ninja Sharingan Kakashi?"

"Yes," piped in Naruto, "he was my teacher as well."

"I see, well I think this tournament will be very interesting," he stood up, "but I must away for now. Hey Old Man," the owner turned toward him, "I would like to pay for my meal and… I'll also get the check for these two here."

Sakura saw Naruto's eyes glow, as he didn't have to pay for his meal now, "Are you sure you want to do that?" she asked pointing at the stack of about a dozen empty bowls of ramen in front of Naruto.

"Sakura-chan…" wined Naruto.

"I don't mind," said the stranger dropping a large amount of money on the counter, "though there is one thing I want to ask in return for paying for your meals."

"Huh?" Naruto and Sakura looked up at him.

"Did that Jiraiya teach you any seals?" he asked Naruto.

"No, he said that I didn't need to know any," answered Naruto.

"Good," the stranger rather coldly stated, then before either of them could ask anything else, "may your days be long and your nights pleasant," and ducked out of the stand.

"That guy was strange," Naruto noted to Sakura.

"Well, I should be heading home," Sakura said, standing up.

Before Naruto could do anything else taking advantage of the fact that this was a _date_, she ducked out of the stand into the cool evening air. She shot a look at the figure walking down the street before turning the other direction and starting home. 'There's more to that guy than he saying,' she told herself the speculated, 'maybe he is older than he looks but just changes his appearance like Tsunade-sensei. If anything strange happens in the next few days, I'll tell her about him.'

A/N: It'll take a few chapters to get the ball rolling on this


	2. Temari's Worst Opponent

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto...

Chapter 2

Temari's Worst Oppenent

"Hmm…" stared Temari, a smug smile forming across her face, "it looks like she isn't going to show."

Temari's inquiring eye turned to Genma, who was overseeing the matches. Genma looked down at his watch, confirming that Temari's opponent was at the moment, eight minutes late. The crowd seemed somewhat restless, obviously annoyed of the fact that the match is being delayed. Genma looked up to Tsunade who was sitting up at the Kage section of the stands.

Tsunade, in turn, looked over at the Kazakage, Gaara, who had traveled to watch the matches. This was not surprising considering that two of his siblings where involved. Gaara didn't look back, but just looked down at the arena. Tsunade had been hoping it wouldn't come to this; 'everyone had been waiting for this last match. No one knew the identity of this contestant, thought they would have to be strong to be able to impress the judges enough to let them in. Though now it is unavoidable,' she told herself as she motioned Genma to make the announcement.

Genma nodded that started speaking, "Due to the absence of one of the contestants the winner of this match is…"

"Yet to be determined," stated a voice.

Naruto, who had been sitting in the stands between Shikamaru and Neji, jumped as he heard the voice. The entire crowd, that had been stirring for the past several minutes then started groaning when they heard Genma speaking because they knew what he would say, also jumped at the voice. Naruto looked down to see a figure standing opposite of Temari. The person had been wrapped in a hooded cloak, which was brown and looked weathered. Their face was covered in the shadow of the hood and completely undecernable.

"When did he show up?" asked Naruto hoping for some sort of answer.

"I didn't see it," said Neji with a bit of concern in his voice, "with speed like that, Temari will probably have a hard time."

"Why is that?" Naruto again.

"Speed implies that he is better with close combat," said Shikamaru, looking down in to the area, "and Temari isn't good at close combat."

"Name and Village?" asked Genma.

"None of your damned business," said the person.

"Geez… " said Genma taking a few steps back, "begin the match then."

Temari grabbed her fan and pulled it out of the holster on her back. She whipped it over her head and brought one end down to the ground with a crash. 'That'll be a pain to polish out later, but all in the hopes of scaring him' she thought looking up at the cloaked figure who had shifted a bit after hearing the crash of the fan on the ground.

"Give up," the cloaked figure stated.

"Hmm… and why should I do that?" asked Temari.

"It would be such a shame to have to break," the figure started protruding a hand and grabbing a handful of the cloak, "you're pretty face," he ripped the cloak off letting it dance in the air before falling onto the ground.

In the stands Naruto almost had a heart attack, "HIM!"

"You know him?" asked Neji turning toward Naruto.

"Yeah," began Naruto trying to get his breath back, "I met him the other night at the Ramen shop. He seemed very nice and even paid for my dinner," stated Naruto.

"Well that guy doesn't seem very nice from this angle," said Neji looking back down in the arena, "but then again, battles do bring out the worst in people..."

Temari observed him for several moments, 'his eyes are unpleasant, but' "No weapons? Are you one of those typical taijustu morons are you?"

"No."

"You don't use taijustu?"

"Uhh… Yes, I do on occasion, but I also have something of a weapon," the figure stated reaching into a pocket in his funeral garb.

Temari's expression suddenly became very serious as the person fished around in his pocket. 'What type of weapon could it be?' she thought, 'it cannot be sharp or it would just cut through his pocket… though it could be in a holster, but then why wouldn't he wear it…' after a second she realized that she was lost in her thoughts and looked up to see that the figure had already produced and had started reading the latest book of the Ichi, Ichi series.

In the stands, Naruto, Neji and Shikamaru all had the same troubled expression.

"He's just like that…" started Neji.

"Kakashi-sensei." Finished Naruto.

"This isn't good," said Shikamaru, the other two turned to him, "In the world of people not to underestimate… well… to openly underestimate Temari is like… wishing for a maelstrom."

The three of them looked back down at the arena almost able to feel the heat of Temari's rage. This wasn't helped whenever the figure actually closed his eyes a chuckled a little bit over one of the jokes in the book while standing just feet away from Temari.

A vein appeared on Temari's forehead as her rage was reaching a peak. 'Why that son of a…' she opened up her fan in preparation of an attack, "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

"Uhh… sure, whatever you say Legs," replied the figure now fully immersed in his book.

She swung her fan over to one side in preparation to tear him to pieces when she noticed… the figure had disappeared. She eyes gazed from left to right, the above to try to find him. A chill ran down her whenever she felt a body leaning against her back.

"You managed to run all the way behind me in a blink of an eye?" asked Temari, frustrated, but not moving.

"Huh?" asked the figure as if nothing had happened, "oh yeah, well uhh… that's not the only thing I did, just couldn't pass up the chance you see…"

Her face became very confused. 'What else could he have done' she asked herself, 'he probably wouldn't set a trap if he decided to end up so…' that thought cut off as she felt something slide down her arm. Her gaze fell on her right arm, which was still slightly outstretched holding onto her fan, and watched as her sleeve slide off from the rest of her ensemble and traveled down her arm until it came to a stop as it crumpled up at her elbow.

"What? How? When?" She spouted out in short furious fragments.

"Hmm… Uhh… you don't sound _that_ mad," the figure stated, Temari felt his head start pressing against hers… 'he is looking up' she told herself, "well I guess if that is the case, you didn't notice what else I did…"

In the stands, Naruto and Neji slowly looked over at a distressed Shikamaru.

"Are you just going to let that stand?" Asked Naruto.

"What?" seemed to come out of Shikamaru's mouth.

"Well, you just cannot let some weird guy go around groping your girlfriend," stated Naruto with a snicker.

"Naruto! For the last time, she is not my girlfriend!" Shikamaru shouted, gaining some sense of himself, though, that didn't last.

Shikamaru looked around to see that pretty much everyone in the stands turned toward him when he shouted at Naruto. His gaze moved from his stands over to the Kage stands, and both of the Kage's there were indeed staring in his direction. He couldn't make out Gaara's expression from this distance, not that he'd want to. 'If they could hear me that means…' thought Shikamaru with a high notion of distress as his gaze then slowly moved toward the arena.

The two down in the arena were indeed within earshot of Shikamaru, as he saw the white-haired combatant looking up at his with a puzzled expression. Temari, however, was staring at the ground, so he couldn't see her response to his outburst. Shikamaru felt the temperature drop… in fact he thought he felt as if he was freezing. The next thing said didn't help this atmosphere at all.

"HA!" the figure said with a smile, "I knew you were single…"

Shikamaru, could swear that Temari was completely on fire after the last comment that person made. 'Maybe she'll forget about it during the fight,' he vainly tried to assure himself, 'though after that she would probably try to end this as fast a possible, in order to kill me sooner… that is unless Gaara gets to me first.'

'I'M GOING TO KILL HIM' Temari thought to herself then remembered the person leaning against her, 'but first I'll have deal with him.' Temari gathered every spare bit of her chakra and concentrated it in her legs, jumping up with as much force as possible, as fast as possible. She turned so that she was facing the ground seeing Genma, who had grasped the atmosphere, fleeing from the arena.

"I'll make sure you have nowhere to run this time!" shouted Temari.

The figure just looked up at her with a smile.

"That's it!" she shouted, determining that smile was an insult, "Ninpo: DAI KAMAITACHI!"

A wave of chakra-imbedded wind fell upon the arena slashing at anything that came within its path. A dust cloud rose up from the disturbed ground, completely engulfing the interior of the arena. A smile of victory came across Temari's face as she floated in above the arena for a moment, and then gracefully fell back into the dust storm below.

After several seconds the dust around the edges of the arena had settled and Genma jumped back down in the arena from the edge of the walls. A few more seconds of quiet passed without anything happening when a shrill sheik pierced the air. Several objects shot out of the dust cloud embedding themselves within the arena wall.

"Those are parts of Temari's fan," stated Neji.

Right after Neji made this statement and larger object shot out of the dust cloud hitting the wall below the Kage section of the stands. Tsunade and Gaara both ran over to the edge and looked down to observed Temari impaled onto the wall through her right shoulder with one of her fan's ribs (A/N: I do not know the anatomy of a fan). Temari looked like a rag doll with her head bowed down and her arms lying at her sides. Blood began to drip off the fan rib as it trickled out of her shoulder. They then looked back toward the dust cloud as childish laughter suddenly erupted out of it.

The dust settled to show the figure sitting with his legs crossed in the middle of the arena, still reading his book. He turned the page and observed it for a moment before breaking out into laughter again. He looked up and saw Temari as if he had no idea what just happened then turned to Genma as he stood up.

"I think I'm about done here," he stated putting away his book and looking around, probably for his cloak.

"No," came a weak and half-hearted voice.

The figure, along with everyone else in the stadium, looked over to the wall of the arena. Temari, was still, in fact conscience, though not moving, and obviously in no condition to do anything else.

"Uhh… don't you know when to give up," the figure stated.

"…"

"You cannot fight anymore."

"…"

"What do you hope to accomplish by continuing?"

"…"

"Well, uhh… I guess I cannot argue against that."

The figure looked around for a moment, then walked over and pulled up one of the ribs of the fan that ended up in the ground. The figure turned and walked over to the section of wall that Temari was impaled to surveying her for a moment. He lifted the rib he was holding up to her head and pressed it against her forehead protector lifting her head up a bit. Her eyes were nearly closed but her mouth was still moving, seemingly still protesting her losing this match.

"What a waste…"

"…"

The figure let her head fall back down and held the sharp end of the rib up to her neck. He held it there a moment, then a little longer, then a few seconds more, signs of frustration appeared on his face.

The figure's eyes moved onto the ground and traced a darkened patch of earth to a boy wearing satin clothing and a green flak jacket. His hair was tied in a ponytail at the back of his head giving him the appearance of a pineapple.

In the stands Naruto just noticed that Shikamaru was in the arena. In disbelief he looked over to where Shikamaru just was to see that he was not there. 'When did he…' he thought looking back and forth.

"Shi-ka-ma-ru," the figure said slowly, studying Shikamaru, who opened his hand, forcing the figure to drop the rib.

"Eh, how did you know…" Started a confused looking Shikamaru.

"Winner by default," interrupted Genma, making his presence known again, and looked at the figure, "is you…"

"Wonderful," said the figure, "now if you don't mind…"

Shikamaru noticed that he was still binding the figure and suddenly released it. His eyes then moved to Temari who was still pinned up to the wall of the arena, who was now unconscious. He turned back to the figure standing before him.

"That was quite impressive," Shikamaru noted.

"Huh?" asked the figure looking back at Shikamaru.

"You're strategy," said Shikamaru almost matter of factly.

"Strategy?"

"Yes, you entered this arena at the last moment in order to make your opponent angry with you to begin with."

"…"

"You then, noting that your opponent was a Kunoichi decided to vocally underestimate her for being a woman, which Kunoichi usually take offense to."

"…"

"After noting that that made her angry you decided to show that you had the upper hand in terms of speed and insult her farther by cutting off her sleeve and implying you did more than that. This would cause her to completely lose her temper and do a huge coup-de-grace style move. Then you took advantage of the fact that she had thought she won by destroying her weapon and attacking her with the pieces."

"…"

"Can I assume from your silence that this is correct?" asked Shikamaru.

"I won't tell you if you are correct Pineapple, but I will uhh… tell you two things," the figure said crossing his arms.

"Hmm?"

"One: I would have had no problem killing her from the get go, and Two: I didn't cause her to do that huge wind jutsu… you did."

Shikamaru looked a little irritated.

"Uhh… well I guess I can let Pigtails down now," the figure said as he grabbed the fan rib, yanking it out, promptly letting Temari fall down and after staring down at her for a few moments, he turned back toward Shikamaru, "Leaf…" down at Temari, "Sand…" back at Shikamaru, "Hey, is that even legal?"

"Is what even legal?" Shikamaru asked, annoyed.

"Inter-village relationships…" stated the figure.

"Just what are you implying?" asked Shikamaru, crossing his arms.

"Uhh… I guess what they say is true," the figure started walking away, looking almost… 'hurt?' "It takes two hearts to make a relationship." The figure reached down, pulling his cloak out of the dust, wrapped it around him, turned toward Shikamaru one last time, "It's probably for the best that she wasn't awake to hear you. She would have cried her eyes out of whatever tears she had left."

Shikamaru watched the figure leave the arena before turning back to see Temari being loaded onto a stretcher by medical-nins. He walked up to the stretcher and looked down at the unconscious Temari looking from her shoulder wound to her face. 'Tears?' he asked himself. As long as he knew Temari, he's never seen her cry. 'Getting impaled through they shoulder must hurt to hell and back, but Temari can still suppress tears from physical injuries.' He turned toward the empty entrance then to the middle of the arena.

"What happened in that dust cloud?" he asked himself, though only two people knew that, and it appeared that neither will answer that in the near future.

A/N: Kinda a cliff-hanger... though I wrote most of this one before the last... I thought it would be more interesting if the stranger was introduced before the match. If any of you are pissed at how easily he beat Temari, I assure you that he won't be very happy after his next fight.


	3. And a Name to Match

A/N: Woo... I've got about 40 hits for this story after about one day. That means about 40 people read it and decided to stick with the story as I update it or decided that it isn't worth their time. I'm not a stickler for reviews, but as I don't know how this story will play out (I have a general idea) I would appreciate suggestions if you have any. This is sorta a weak chapter in my opinion, compared to the other ones... but Gai versus the new guy... have fun reading.

Disclaimer:... this is realy annoying... Don't own, Don't Sue

Chapter 3

And a Name to Match

"I cannot believe he is late again…" complained Naruto sitting in his seat.

Three days after the first round of the tournament the second round was underway, the first round saw Kakashi beating out all three of Kankuro's puppets, however people seemed to be looking more forward to the next match. Gai stood in the arena eagerly awaiting his opponent who was once again… very late. However Gai's opponent wasn't the only person who wasn't present.

"And where is Shikamaru?" Naruto added, remembering the empty seat beside him, "

"Shikamaru is at the hospital," answered Neji.

"Huh? What happened to him?" asked Naruto, looking slightly concerned.

"No, He's just fine," Neji assured, "He's been visiting Temari in the hospital whenever he can."

"Wait, she still isn't better?"

"Her shoulder wound was repaired though medic techniques, however," Neji's eyes narrowed slightly, "it would appear as if she suffered psychological damage from the fight. Apparently she just stares off into space all day."

"Oh, I see," said Naruto, then with a grin, "and Shikamaru has been spending his extra time with her."

Neji shot Naruto a confused look.

Then Naruto added with a small snicker, "I always thought there was something going on between them."

"And what do you mean by that?"

However before Naruto answered this question, another voiced filled the stadium, "Sorry for being so late, I had to pick up something on my way here."

"That's a lie," shouted Gai pointing at the newcomer.

"No, No, really," the stranger reached into his cloak and pulled out a small pamphlet.

"What's that?" asked Gai still sounding annoyed at his opponent's punctuality.

"Well you see," the stranger said opening up the pamphlet and pulling off is hood, "I was late the last time, so I didn't get to see how you fight. Now it wouldn't be very fair if you get to walk into this match knowing how I fight, but I don't know how you fight."

"Wait! No one saw you fight! Everything you did was inside that dust cloud!" Yelled Gai pointing his finger at his opponent once again.

"Hmm… lets see now…" started the stranger looking at the pamphlet, ignoring Gai, "Maito Gai… uhh… almost ridiculously good in taijustu, also it says that you are very fast, though nothing else here," he looked up at Gai and crumpled up the pamphlet, "I think I'll have to take you a bit more seriously than that girl."

"And I swear by this face that I will win and then go onto defeat my eternal rival, Kakashi," swore Gai forming up his "Nice Guy" pose and smiling.

"Uhh… whatever," said the stranger, who shifted under his cloak, widening his stance.

In the stands, Neji activated his Byakugan, "There's no way I'm missing a second of this," then his face changed from an eager expression to a more confused one, "I don't believe it…"

"Huh?" asked Naruto, though not looking away from the arena.

"His chakra, in terms of capacity… is only one fourth of that of any normal person."

"Chaka… capacity…" Naruto now turned toward Neji.

"… You may not notice since you don't have a problem…" Naruto's expression was confused, "look you know how weaker you feel after using the Rasengan?"

Naruto nodded, 'it isn't really that much… I barely feel that much weaker…'

"If _he_ would attempt that attack," continued Neji, "he very well might die."

In the arena Gai charged his opponent, who stood there unflinching. Gai balled his hand into a fist and threw his arm back.

"I've got you!" he declared as he trust his arm forward.

A smile appeared on the strangers face as Gai fist cut into his cloak, however, the cloak was all Gai managed to strike. A look of shock appeared on his face as he ran into the cloak trying to slow himself down.

"Got who?" came a very confident voice from behind Gai.

Gai turned enough to see his opponent, dressed in his funeral clothes standing behind him. Right arm outstretched, palm opened yet fingers curled in slightly. A smirk appeared across his opponent's face as he took a swing at Gai with his right arm. Although, this swing was slow enough to give Gai enough time to throw himself out of the way. Gai slowed himself down with a roll and looked up as he was still sliding away from his opponent. While still in motion, Gai saw his opponent smirk again and disappear.

"Shit," he yelled as he rammed his fingers into the ground, nearly breaking them, and throwing himself in another direction again.

He turned his head quickly enough to see his opponent finishing another ill-fated swipe at where his body used to be before he came crashing to the ground. His opponent turned toward him as he came to a stop looking slightly frustrated yet still confident.

"Impossible," said Naruto amazed, "how can he be that fast?"

"No," answered Neji, "he isn't fast, it's some sort of technique allowing him to move over long distances without consuming too much chakra."

"Huh?" once again Naruto seemed confused.

"You've gained no analytical abilities over those years with Jiraiya have you?" asked Neji.

"…"

"Well consider," sighed Neji, "he can maneuver his position on the field quickly yet he has been incapable of landing an actual blow on Gai. I saw that he somehow moved himself into the trees during the time Gai ran through his cloak, however I was unable to follow his transition. Also he does not attack Gai now that Gai has temporarily been backed into a corner. Lastly, the shape of his hand when he attacks is odd" Neji stated as he watched Gai get up and compose himself, "those three things tell us three important things about him," Naruto still looked confused, "it tells us that he is slower than Gai, that where he can transport himself is limited to a few locations, and that there's some sorta trick to his attacks."

"And how do you know that?" asked Naruto.

Neji slammed his face into his palm, "why do I even bother?"

"Ah, I see that you, still deep in the springtime of youth will still allow his opponent to rise so that you may fight him on honorable terms," proclaimed Gai standing up and dusting off his clothes.

His opponent looked confused at Gai's words, "Uhh… yeah, we'll say that's it… though have I met before."

"Oh, you believe you've seen this beautiful face before?" Gai asked pointing at his face with his thumb.

"No, I think I've seen that booger of an outfit you're wearing," his opponent stated.

This caused Gai to charge him once again. Though, in the stands, Naruto's concentration was taken away from the match.

"Yo, Naruto," came a loud voice from behind him.

Naruto turned around, "E… Ero-Sennin."

"Ho, I heard that there was something big happening here so I decided that I should come and have a see," Jiraiya stated as he moved past Neji and Naruto, sitting in Shikamaru's seat.

"Yeah, it's quite a match, Fuzzy-Brow's Sensei against some weird guy who can move around fast," said Naruto looking back down at the arena, "although neither of them have been able to hit each other."

"Ho Ho… just wonderful," seemed to be the answer Naruto got.

Naruto turned and noticed that Jiraiya had pulled out his telescope, however he wasn't looking down at the arena.

"Hey! Ero-Sennin!" yelled Naruto pointing at Jiraiya, "the match is down there!" and shifted his finger down to the arena.

"Sheesh," said Jiraiya as he shifted his telescope down from some women in the stands across the arena down into the arena itself. There he saw Gai and… He dropped his telescope, glass lenses shattering upon hitting the ground, and stood up with a look of horror on his face, "V… V… Verko-sama!"

Naruto turned to see the now named Verko looked up toward the stands, "Jiraiy-AH!" the last syllable coming out as a yell as Gai finally connected a fist into the chest of his opponent.

Gai kept charging with his arm outstretched and Verko attached to his fist until he finally nailed Verko against the wall of the arena. Gai heard the sound of crackling as he felt Verko's ribs shattering behind his fist.

"I normally wouldn't hit a opponent who was distracted like that," panted Gai, "but for you, it was the only way," Verko reached out and grabbed Gai's arms trying to push it away, "I've won."

The crowd began cheering for Gai's amazing one hit victory, however Neji, Byakugan still activated, noticed something no one else did.

"GAI-SENSEI, GET HIM OFF OF YOU NOW!" He warned Gai, after jumping to his feet.

Neji observed that Gai didn't have the chance to hear the entire warning though. His eyes rolled up and he passed out while falling to the ground, releasing his smaller opponent. Verko took three slow steps away from Gai before stumbling over and landing on his knees and hands.

Genma, who had been very unnoticed up until now, stepped up to both of them, "It would appear the winner of this match is… Verko…"

Naruto watched, Verko shot Genma a very nasty looked upon hearing his name before turning back to the ground and coughing up a mouthful of blood. Verko then attempted to get up before falling to the ground, blood trailing from his mouth and appearing to forcefully keep his eyes open.

A/N: I seem to use these ending that makes you question what happens... Well I'll tell you that in the next chapter you find out a little bit more about this "Verko"


	4. A Revealing Hospital Visit

A/N: So yeah, plenty of hits for my story... that makes me happy, happy enought to load this part of the story which hasn't really been completed yet. Hmm... well this first part right below is just a continuation of the last chapter (something i forgot to add onto the end) and then we have the hospital scene... nothing too interesting... though kinda funny i guess.

Disclaimer: don't own... don't sue

And a Name to Match cont.

Neji had hopped down into the arena upon hearing that the match was over. He looked over to the medical nins loading Gai onto a stretcher with Godaime Hokage standing over him applying some sort of medical jutsu to him. Gai was now bleeding out of the eyes, mouth, nose, and ears; his face also appeared to have sunken in slightly conforming to the shape of his skull. The medical nin started rushing toward the exit, and most likely the hospital, with Godaime Hokage running alongside.

Neji then turned to the now named Verko who was being unwillingly forced onto a stretcher, "NO! Get off of me, I need to leave, not be healed."

Exactly what he meant by needing to leave was beyond Neji, 'however, his unique techniques, in terms of chakra control and damage per hit, is more powerful than my juken,' Neji thought to himself. 'Though, that is most likely to make up for his disadvantage of overall lack of chakra. I suppose that's to be expected.'

After watching Verko being transported out of the arena, Neji set on what he originally came down here to check. He walked out to about the middle of the arena and looked around a bit.

"This should be about where he stood," Neji assured himself.

He kicked at the dirt a bit before noticing what he was looking for. He reached down in the dirt and pulled out a senbon that was rammed into the dirt, only exposing the tip. Upon it was engraved some writing of a nature that he couldn't understand. Neji looked toward the trees and then at other locations where Verko had been during both this and Verko's last match.

Neji activated his Byukagun, confirming his suspicions, "I thought so."

Chapter 4

The Revealing Hospital Visit

Shikamaru sat in his chair next to a hospital bed, a small shogi board sat on a small table that was in front of him. The pieces were all over to board as he thought thinking of his next move against' himself he snuck a glance at the person who was lying on the hospital bed. Temari had been lying there like that for the past three days. Nothing appeared to be wrong with her, but all she would do is stare at the ceiling with dreamy eyes. 'What did that man do to you?' He asked himself again, as if somehow the answer would simply diffuse out of her mind and into his.

Shikamaru turned back to the shogi board, 'playing alone is so boring,' "Though I guess you won't be playing anytime soon," he said sliding a piece across the board, 'this side's next move is checkmate.'

Shikamaru was about to turn the board around so that he could observe the situation of the more hopeless side whenever the door to the hospital room flew open. In flew Naruto, followed by a briskly walking Jiraiya.

Naruto pointed at Temari, "There she is! She was his first opponent… and Shikamaru? You're still here."

Shikamaru looked at Naruto, slightly annoyed, "yes I am, so what?"

Naruto raised his hands in defense, "hey, if you wanna spend time with your girlfriend, that's fine with me."

Jiraiya, who was ignoring the conversation walked over and looked down at Temari on the left side of the hospital bed. 'She isn't dead,' Jiraiya though, 'however, what could he have done to make her like this. From Naruto's description of the fight, it would seem as if he used those, but if she alive that's impossible. No one has ever survived.

"Naruto," started Shikamaru, "first of all, it cannot be that way, inter-village relations are illegal. Second, she IS just a friend. Third, I don't like women, they're troublesome."

"Nevermind that," Jiraiya looked as Shikamaru, "you didn't happen to notice whether or not she did anything that would make it seem as if she tried to harm herself did you."

Shikmaru looked back at the sennin, 'He looks really concerned,' "No, why?"

'Didn't think he'd actually do it,' Jiraiya walked to the foot of the bed, "It's probably nothing, but it has to do with the way Verko attacks."

"Verko?" 'That name sounds firmillar.'

"Temari's opponent," answered Naruto.

"How do you know his name?" Shikamaru asked Jiraiya.

"Because I told him," answered a raspy voice.

Everyone turned to see Verko, apparently healed standing in the doorway.

"What are you doing here?" asked Shikamaru coldly, 'bastard.'

"I'm here to right a wrong committed by me," Verko said then looked toward Jiraiya, "it's been a long time my old apprentice."

Naruto turned toward Jiraiya, "Huh? What does he mean apprentice?"

Jiraiya, not taking his eyes off of Verko, "a long time ago, when I was about your age, I spent two years following around the man infamously known as Verko the Abyss."

Shikamaru thought that the name sounded familiar, however, he couldn't quite remember from what he had heard it.

"Jiraiya," Verko cleared his throat, "you wouldn't happen to be telling them about me?"

Jiraiya swallowed a lump in his throat, "no."

"Good, well then" said Verko, rubbing his hands together, "I should get to doing what I came here to do," he walked over to the side of Temari's bed that Jiraiya was standing at. "Hmm…" he said looking down at her with his glassy black eyes, "it's almost unbelievable that she is still alive. However, she's always been tough, hasn't she."

'Always been tough, what does he mean by…' Shikamaru looked up to the other side of the bed but didn't see either Verko or Jiraiya standing there. A crash came from the side of the room opposite of Temari's bed, Shikamaru turned to see Jiraiya holding up the one foot shorter Verko by the collar against the wall.

"You. Used. Those. On. Her?" asked Jiraiya, rage forcing him to highlight every word, "you used those on a young girl?"

"She's still alive, isn't she?" Verko responded.

Jiraiya's didn't share the same optimism as his fist met with the side of Verko's face after saying it.

Verko, after spitting out blood from his mouth, suddenly looked at Jiraiya with eyes that could cut a kunai it two, "Jiraiya, I will let that pass once, but you will put me down at once."

Naruto, standing on the side, suddenly saw a new look in Jiraiya. His rage filled face suddenly showed a hint of fright.

Jiraiya, having realized that he has faltered in his anger at his former teacher let him down, "sorry."

Naruto pointed at Verko while looking at Jiraiya, "WHY ARE YOU APOLOGIZING TO HIM? HE HURT TEMARI AND FUZZY-BROW'S SENSEI!"

Verko's turned toward Naruto, who met Verko's sharp eyes with a face of anger, "Jiraiya, who exactly is this loudmouth?"

Jiraiya stared at the ground, "The vessel for the nine-tails demon fox."

Naruto looked at Jiraiya, shocked. 'Why did he say that? Jiraiya has never referred to me as the nine-tails.'

Shikamaru looked from Verko to Jiraiya then finally to Naruto; Shikamaru's eyes looked sad, 'I've always had my suspicions, but to hear it so blatantly stated…'

"So in this boy…" started Verko looking at Naruto, "Yondaime Hokage…"

"Used _that_ seal," said Jiraiya, still diverting his eyes to the ground.

"That idiot."

Rage suddenly started bubbling in Naruto, "How dare you insult the Yondaime Hokage!"

"Naruto, quiet!" said Jiraiya, looking over at Naruto.

"But?" Naruto protested.

"You don't understand…" started Jiraiya.

"Yes, that right, you don't understand." assured Verko.

Naruto stared into those black eyes with all his rage.

"Though I must say I'm surprised no one has killed him yet," Verko smirked.

"You Bastard," yelled Naruto ready to charge the grinning man staring at him.

"I said quiet Naruto!" Jiraiya turned back to Verko, "it was Yondaime's will that Naruto not be looked down on in the village."

"Hmmph," Verko blinked, "well, it not my problem, so I won't deal with it for you, however, if I happen to come across him again, I won't hesitate to kill him."

"As if hesitation has ever been your problem," Jiraiya stated

"Ah, don't remind me of the old days…" Verko walked back to the bedside of Temari and looked down at her, "I suppose I should wake her up now."

"You can just wake her up?" asked Shikamaru in disbelief.

"Yeah," Verko pulled out a small gourd, opened it and drank all of the contents, "it's a very complex process."

"And what was that?" asked Shikamaru, indicating the now empty gourd.

"Uhh… Sake."

"Huh?" 'complex and you have to drink to make it work?'

"Well, you see if I'm not in the uhh… mood it just never seems to work," Verko grabbed her shoulders and pulled Temari into a sitting position, turning her so that she's facing him, "but then again, this is all just theory."

Everyone leaned in to see exactly what Verko would do to wake her up.

"WAKE UP! SNAP OUT OF IT! GET OVER YOURSELF! YOU'RE NOT DEAD YET!" Verko yelled at Temari while viciously shaking her back and forth.

All of a sudden life suddenly returned to Temari's eyes and she suddenly straightened up.

Shikamaru looked at Temari, "Huh? Temari you're…" 'very pissed off.'

Shikamaru noticed that apparently whenever Temari suddenly shot up out of her daze, Verko's hands must of not been gripping her that tightly… they had fallen down over her… Suddenly a wave of jealousy overcame Shikamaru over this man's position, but.

"PERVERT!" Temari screamed as she connected her right fist into the face of the person, who she found groping her while slept.

Verko flew completely across the room before coming to a stop, hitting the opposite wall.

"I'll kill you, you son of a bitch!" Yelled Temari as she tried to get out of bed.

Shikamaru tried to hold her place, "No, you don't understand."

Temari, still thrashing, "Oh I do… Wait! You just sat there and let him do that! I'm going to kill both of you! Where is my fan!"

"About that… Temari," Shikamaru held her down with one arm while gesturing to the larger table by her bed with the other arm.

Temari looked over to see the pile of broken, twisted metal that used to be her fan. She stopped thrashing about at this sight.

"Who… Who would do such a thing?" she asked looking as though someone had just drowned her kitten.

"He did," Shikamaru pointed at the dreary looking person who was still against the opposite wall, "you see, the tournament…"

'That's right,' "The tournament," Temari suddenly looked shocked, "I need to fix my fan before…"

"It's over," interrupted Shikamaru, "you lost," then gesturing to Verko again, "to him… don't you remember?"

"No," answered Temari looking at Verko, 'I lost to this perverted bastard… and he broke my fan… and…' "Why am I in the hospital?" she demanded.

"You've been out of it for the past few days," said Naruto, keeping his distance from the unpredictably angry Temari.

"Huh?"

"Ever since your match, you've just been in a comatose-like state, you have just been staring at the ceiling," clarified Shikamaru.

"And I must say that I uhh… liked you better that way," said Verko standing up.

"OH YEAH! I BET YOU DID PERVERT!" screamed Temari.

"Hey! That is just my bad luck!"

"Bad Luck! And what would be good luck? Full out raping me in my sleep?"

"Hey! My hands were where they were a long time before you chest was in front of them!"

"Yeah, I bet!" Temari jerked toward "Shikamaru?"

"Well… you see…" Shikamaru, feeling pressured by Temari's glare, tried to figure out the best way to word it, "he kinda is telling the truth…"

"Hah!" shouted Verko pointing a finger at Temari, "And you wonder why guys never show interest in you? That is because you are a CRAZY BITCH! I mean, I've seen my fair share of crazy bitches, but you are one CCCRRRAAAZZZYYY BITCH!"

Something about the wording Verko used seemed odd to Shikamaru.

"YOU BASTARD! I'm gonna…" started Temari, but she was cut off when the door slammed open.

Everyone looked over to see Gaara and Tsunade standing in the doorway.

"What are the Hokage and Kazekage doing here?" asked Shikamaru, taking his arm off Temari after noticing how Gaara was looking at him.

"Temari, you're awake," Gaara noticed.

"We are looking for the shinobi called Verko," cut in Tsunade in a serious tone, "Jiraiya, you knew his name, do you know where he is?"

"He's right here," said Naruto as he looked over at a small folded piece of paper where Verko was standing, "huh?" Naruto turned toward the window, noticing it was now open.

Shikamaru, who had under Gaara's glare, left he seat, walked up to the piece of paper and picked it up. On it, it read:

_Out to Lunch, See you later._

_Love,_

_Verko_

_PS. Tell Jiraiya to keep his big mouth shut._

"Looks like Verko is fleeing again," said Jiraiya after reading the message over Shikamaru's shoulder.

Tsunade and Gaara approached Shikamaru, who surrendered the letter to them.

"How do you know he is fleeing?" asked Gaara after reading the letter.

"He always leaves a letter like that whenever he's running out on a bill," said Jiraiya, then added, "and he usually left me there to pay it. But, on the bright side, we probably don't have to worry about him ever again."

"I'm afraid that we do have to worry about it," said Tsunade, "he's a criminal."

"Huh?"

"When I got a good look at him after he defeated Gai, I thought those weird black eyes of his were familiar, so I had people look into any records that mention a black eyed person."

"And?"

"He suspected of murdering a squad of ANBU slightly over two years ago."

"I doubt he would do that," said Jiraiya, "He doesn't like drawing unnecessary attention to himself."

"Well, unfortunately for him, he was found in the hospital's record room, burning files from two years ago."

"Trying to cover up his murder?" asked Shikamaru.

"I don't think so," continued Tsunade, "reports regarding those deaths are all over the place, though I do think he was attempting to remove information of his visit here as a whole."

"His visit?" Jiraiya was confused.

"That time when he showed up here, he was here with someone else. The ANBU mentioned that they thought his companion was in some way connected with Orochimaru so the decided to investigate." Tsunade paused.

"And?"

"They were found dead several miles outside the village."

"What did they look like?" pressed Jiraiya.

Tsunade's expression because a bit more fearful than serious, "It appeared as if they killed themselves… but their expressions suggested they were forced to."

"I was afraid of that, he used that technique of his," Jiraiya looked at Temari, "the same one he used on you."

"WAIT!" cut in Naruto, "he knows about Orochimaru?"

"Don't get ahead of yourself Naruto," Jiraiya turned toward him with a stern expression on his face.

"If he knows where Orochimaru is, he can help us find Sasuke," argued Naruto.

"He's not the type of person who just helps people."

"Then I'll just have to beat it out of him." Naruto raised a fist.

"You don't get it do you?" Jiraiya suddenly got right up to Naruto, "you don't know what he's capable of."

A/N: Yeah... Kinda an annoying place to stop, however everything after that line has been edited about four times over already. Mostly because what is said sorta sets up the rest of the story, which still isn't concrete in my mind. And if you cannot tell Jiraiya thinks a bit more highly of Verko than most people would... but there's a reason for that... you'll see later... maybe.


	5. Convincing

A/N: Yeah, here it is my longest chapter yet. Written with the time I should be using to write my Wealth of Nations VS. Communist Manifesto paper. However, my college has canceled my summer classes for not paying a bill they never sent me (not a very large bill either, on college standards that is). So I'm trying to get that worked out, and my rage may show in this update. Though for this update, a lot of words, not a lot of stuff happening... I guess that is what you get when you're watching Koyaanisqatsi while writing several sections of it... I swear that movie creeps me out. RxR if you want I'm happy to know that atleast 30 people made it to my forth chapter.

My reviewer:

LaZyEnErGeTiC: damn that took awhile to type... anywho, Yes I love the idea, it will work well in a future chapter i'm planning. thanks for the suggestion, though don't expect them to be all over each other...

Chapter 5  
Convincing

"I look like a clown," Temari stated blatantly as she saw her reflection.

"No, you look nice," Sakura assured her as she put down her mirror.

"This is never going to work," Temari looked frustrated.

"No, of course it is going to work," Kiba said, though it sounded as if he was snickering.

"And why is that?" Temari asked

"Come on, he's a guy of course it is going to work," answered Kiba with a wink.

"… What do you think?" Temari asked in the direction of Neji and Shikamaru who were looking past the trees that they were behind out into the field ahead of them.

Neji peered back for a second then look back forward not saying anything. Shikamaru tried to do that same.

While Shikamaru was right about to turn back to the field Temari decided to press him, "Huh? What do you think Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru tried to search for the right wording. 'She looks overly ridiculous with her hair down and those gobs of make-up on her face… She actually looked a lot better without any of it on,' Shikamaru noticed the little murder machine, better known as Sabaku no Gaara, crouching behind her and decided to come up with something that wouldn't get him killed.

"Lose the fan," Shikamaru quickly blurted out and turned around.

She expected something different, "Fine," she grabbed her fan and swung it around, making sure that it came in contact with Shikamaru's head before it hit the ground, "oh whoops."

"That's enough you two," said Neji, "it looks like he finally showed up.

They all looked out from the tree line to see figure in a tattered cloak emerge from the forest, walking along the path that ran through the field. As they expected he walked up to the curry restaurant that was in the middle of the field, and entered.

Neji flew through some hand signs and activated his Byakugan, "Ok, he will be at the third table on the left. You remember the sign incase you get into trouble, right Temari?"

Temari held up her right hand with crossed fingers, to which Neji nodded and she started walking into the field and towards the restaurant.

"So, Shikamaru…" Kiba said once she was out of earshot, "what do we do if she gives us that signal?"

"First, Gaara will throw all his sand at him," Shikamaru explained, "and in the confusion we'll grab Temari and make a break for it."

"In true Shikamaru fashion," Sakura shot at him.

"Taking into account what we know about him, that's the best plan I can think of, if someone has a better idea, I'm all ears," Shikamaru offered.

Flashback 

"_You don't get it," Jiraiya was suddenly right up to Naruto, "you don't know what he's capable of."_

"_He's killed Gai," Tsunade added, somewhat distressed._

_This fact seemed to shock everyone in the room aside from Jiraiya._

"_You don't seem to be that surprised at this Jiraiya," Tsunade noted._

_Jiraiya turned to Tsunade, "After following him for two years, he seems to make human life seem very cheap."_

"_But… But… why would he want to kill Gai," Naruto stuttered out._

"_I doubt he intended to kill Gai, it was probably just a reaction to being hurt so badly," Jiraiya speculated._

"_The technique he used on Gai caused a chain reaction that continuously destroyed structural proteins within Gai's body," Tsunade bit her finger in anxiety and added, "I would never think that someone would be capable of developing such as technique. At first I thought all his tendons ripped, but by the time I figured out what was really happening, it was too late to do anything."_

"_Destruction of structural proteins… such a jutsu… there's no way anything like that could exist," Shikamaru stated._

"_Well, theoretically, it is possible, but to develop and be able to use such a jutsu… would take…" started Tsunade._

"_Decades," finished Jiraiya, "I remember him talking about it whenever I trained under him. However there is a technique that he can use that is worse than that."_

End Flashback

Temari entered the restaurant and turned to the right. She saw that there were raised floors with tables on them that were located on the right side. The tables were separated with rice paper walls in some attempt to give the place a more traditional look. Located right outside the third sectioned off table were a pair of sandals, a cloak and a satchel that were nonchalantly placed on the floor.

Temari walked up to the third table and peered around the wall, and there was the white-haired, black-eyed person who apparently defeated her in a match two weeks prior. She quietly kicked off her own sandals, stepped up onto the raised floor and knelt on the cushion that was opposite of Verko the Abyss. For a moment he didn't seem to notice she was there, when he did he seemed a bit startled at her presence.

After a moment, he finally spoke, "Oh, it's you…"

Temari forced a smile, "Hi, fancy seeing you again."

"… Ambush?" Verko asked.

"Of course not, I was just passing by and…" Temari lied.

"Now, we both know that you wouldn't be caught dead looking like that," Verko noted.

Temari raised an eye in frustration.

Flashback 

"_You mean the technique he used on me?" Temari asked._

"_Yes," Jiraiya answered, "apparently it's due to this technique that he obtained the name the Abyss. He calls the techinique Blackeyes, but a more appropriate title would be mind raping."_

"_Mind… Raping?" Tsunade was confused, "I've never heard anything like that."_

"_It's a technique only he can use," Jiraiya took a deep breath calming his voice down, "just remembering it gives me chills."_

"_What does he do?" Shikamaru asked giving a concerned side-glance at Temari._

"_In a sense, he does quite a bit, yet nothing at all," answered Jiraiya cryptically._

"_Just tell us what he does Ero-Sennin!" yelled Naruto._

_Jiraiya tried to regain his composure, "He looks as though he is simply staring someone in the eye. However, in reality, he is doing so much more," Jiraiya paused for a moment, "He, in a sense, reads the other person's mind."_

"_Reads their minds… that explains how he knew my name," Shikamaru noted._

"_Yes, he is able to do it in an instant," Jiraiya continued, "however, I speculate that he may only read thoughts in someone's working memory and the nature of this technique forces him to experience everything about the person."_

"_So whatever he see, his opponent sees as well," Tsunade added, "but I don't see how that could be used as an offensive weapon."_

"_Well, you see," Jiraiya paused again, 'this is the worst part about it,' "The person he's using the technique on, their minds tend to pull out the worst parts of their memories. Their worst pains, their greatest fears, everything and anything that they've repressed will come flooding back. Upon facing this, whoever he is looking at will do anything in order to end it."_

"_Even kill themselves," Tsunade finished, 'so those ANBU really did do that to themselves.'_

"_But Temari is still alive," Naruto pointed out, "she didn't kill herself."_

"_She tried to," Shikamaru noted, turning toward Naruto, "wasn't it odd the way her fan flew out of that dust cloud in so many different angles. She must have used one of her wind attacks against herself, but instead of killing her, it broke her fan up and impaled her shoulder."_

"_But what I don't understand is why he would use that technique," Jiraiya was dumbfounded, "if his intention was to get injured so that he may enter in here and destroy files, he wouldn't have use it. He almost never uses it as it is."_

"_Why not?" asked Naruto, "If it's so powerful, then why wouldn't he use it?"_

"_Psychological ramifications," answered Jiraiya, "when using that techinique he knows everything about that person for that moment. He described it as the most intimate of all relationships. Can you imagine… Can you imagine what it must be like to know a person's every hope and dream, fear and sadness, then know, that you are the cause of their horrible death?" Jiraiya paused for a moment and the room was quiet, "that is what he goes through every time he uses that technique."_

End Flashback

"So then why are you here?" asked Verko

Temari opened her mouth, hoping that she could come up with a lie that would be able to come up with a lie immediately, but was saved whenever a waitress came to take their order.

"Oh, I'll have this," Verko said pointing to something on the menu, then looked up at Temari, "would you like something to eat, I'll pay for it."

The waitress walked over to Temari and showed her the menu. Temari's eyes scanned the menu before finding something that she liked and pointed it out to the waitress.

There was a very long moment of silence between them as they waited for the waitress to bring out their food.

"So… why are you here?" Verko spoke up again.

Temari considered all sorts of lies, but decided to go with the truth, "I'm supposed to try to convince you to return to Konoha."

Verko stared at her as if she was mad, "are you serious?"

"Yes," Temari answered.

"Well I'm not going," Verko crossed his arms.

"Why not?"

"Like I want to go back to a place so that they would hang me? I'm responsible for the deaths of… five people I think they're aware of."

"Aware of?" Temari noticed.

"Oh look, here's our food," Verko pointed out as the waitress set several plates in front of them.

Temari watched as Verko began to shovel food in his mouth and looked down at her own plate. She was hungry, but part of her felt as if she couldn't eat in front of this person. After a minute of staring at her food, however, she decided to eat.

Flashback 

"_The applications of such a techinique…" Tsunade pondered._

"_Oh, No, don't even think about it," Jiraiya looked strait at her with a serious expression._

"_If not for our protection from him, then for his protection against others," Tsunade concluded, "either way we cannot just let him run free. If Orochimaru, or Akatsuki get a hold of him, it could be very bad for Konoha."_

"_He can take care of himself," Jiraiya stated, "Orochimaru has been after him for some time, Akatsuki attempted to get him to join them when they originally formed, though he declined."_

"_He declined?"_

"_Yes, I'm not sure why, but it's safe to say that Akatsuki won't be bothering him," Jiraiya concluded._

"_Look Jiraiya, one way or another, he would be a great asset to have on our side," Tsunade started in her more diplomatic tone, "I'm not asking you if we should do this, I'm asking you how we should do this."_

"_Well if you send another team of ANBU to try to capture him," Jiraiya looked out toward the window, "they'll end up like that other team. You'll have to convince him to come back."_

"_And how can we do that?" Tsunade asked._

"_The only way I see possible…" Jiraiya looked away from the window._

_Everyone followed his eyes to Temari, who was still on the bed._

"_Me?" asked Temari, slightly surprised._

"_After reading someone's mind, he usually tends to sympathize with the deceased…" Jiraiya coughed into his hands, "well, in your case, you didn't die, but it would explain why he decided to wake you up."_

"_Wake me up?" Temari lashed out, "I woke up finding that pervert touching me, and you call that waking me up?"_

"_He was doing what to you?" asked Gaara._

"_Well," Shikamaru tried to calm Temari down, "in all fairness he did kinda snap you out of your sleep."_

"_All he did was shake her around and yell at her," Naruto stated._

"_Regardless," Tsunade felt as if the situation was getting off topic, "Temari of the Sands, will you partake in a mission to try to convince the criminal Verko the Abyss to return to Konoha?"_

_Temari thought about it for a moment._

"_The chief objective of the mission will to not fight him, but to try to get him to come back, or to get a much information as you can from him. You'll be accompanied by a team lead by Shikamaru and anyone he feels may be of value to the mission, however," Tsunade turned to Shikamaru, "try to limit it to people who may already know something about the target."_

_Temari considered it for a minute, then nodded to Tsunade, 'atleast I may spend some time with Shikamaru.'_

"_Hey, Hey, that means that I can go too right?" Naruto pointed at himself._

"_NO!" Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Shikamaru declared simultaneously_

"_Why not, if he knows something about Orochimaru, he could know about Sasuke, why can't I go?" Naruto complained._

"_Your dumb," said Tsunade._

"_Your annoying," said Jiraiya._

"_and you'd pick a fight with him," said Shikamaru, "he's already killed Gai, the last thing we need is to provoke him to kill anyone else."_

_The mention of Gai brought the room to silence again. 'Of course you had to mourn for you fallen comrade,' Jiraiya told himself, 'but the world will move on regardless of whether you are mourning or not. That's one lesson you taught me Verko.'_

"_Tsunade, you should announce Gai's death," Jiraiya broke the silence._

End Flashback

"So there's no way you're going to return to Konoha?" Temari asked finishing her curry.

"Well… we cannot say definitely," Verko peered up from his, "you never know I may return."

"When?" asked Temari.

"Hopefully, considering the situation, when you are all dead and buried," Verko announced with a small grin.

"Well can you at least answer some questions?" Temari asked, "so this mission wouldn't be a total failure?"

"And why should I do that?" Asked Verko.

"Why? Why! Maybe because you… well RAPED MY MIND," Temari shouted at him.

"Hey, keep it down will you?" Verko looked around suspiciously, "we are attracting a little too much attention."

"I don't care, how could you bring yourself to do such a thing the a person?" Temari asked him, "you steal their thoughts, their hopes, their desires, their fears, their pains… everything that makes them unique," she felt tears boil up realizing exactly what he has done, "you take someone's inner most thoughts, and use those to destroy them…" Temari was now fully in tears.

"Pains…" Verko held the back of his head with his hands, and looked up at the ceiling, "the pain of loving someone yet never seeing that love returned… so that's how it must have felt."

"Huh?" his last statement seemed odd to Temari.

Verko looked back at her, "Fine then, against my better judgment I'll answer your questions," Verko poured some of his water onto a napkin and tossed it over to Temari, "first, clean yourself up a little."

Temari took the napkin and began wiping off her face, "that statement you made, about not seeing love returned? Why did you say that?"

"Nevermind that," Verko said.

"Was it something about your past?" Temari pressed.

"Forget it," Verko stated coldly and turned away from her.

Flashback 

"_Son of a…" Shikamaru looked up from his book, "I knew that I've heard his name before."_

_They had been following the Verko for the past three days, always just out of his sight. Kiba and Akamaru were in the front, followed by Neji and Sakura, Shikamaru was behind them, and the line ended with Temari and Gaara. While Gaara wasn't planned to accompany them, no one was about to complain about having the Kazekage accompany them._

"_What do you mean?" asked Temari as she walked up to him and peered over his shoulder, everyone just glanced back for a second._

"_Well, it's just the name," Shikamaru indicated this ancient book in his hands, "You see in this story his name appears."_

"_I remember that story," stated Temari, "It's about a village leader to gathered the strongest shinobi in order to bring order to the lands. But there was no Verko amoung them."_

"_No," Shikamaru held up the book a little to her, "the story the poet tells the leader after they defeat the great snake. In it he mentions the five shinobi who became the scourge of the lands. One of them is called Verko the Abyss."_

"_Lemme see that," Temari snatched the small book out of Shikamaru's hand:_

"_Verko the Abyss, his heart so cold,  
Shall show you what your nightmares hold.  
Even the bravest who gaze into his eyes,  
Shall be fallen with a quick demise."_

"_So you think this is the same person as in that story?" asked Kiba._

"_No, that's impossible," answered Shikamaru, "this story is several hundred years old, and the story that the poet told would be several hundred more. I just think that his name derived from this person."_

"_Hey, what about the four others?" asked Temari flipping through the pages, "Mir the Hammer, Deidre the Mad, Maturin the Blade, Maerlyn the Ghost…"_

"_Yeah," Shikamaru snatched his book back, "but I doubt we have to worry about those, I mean, if our Verko was named after this Verko, it would be doubtful if there would actually be four others who can match these descriptions."_

"_What does it say about the others?" Gaara asked._

"_Uhh…" Shikamaru looked through the pages, "just a lot about some really troublesome abilities."_

"_Can I read that?" asked Temari, attempting to take it back from Shikamaru._

"_No," stiffly answered Shikamaru.  
_

"_Please…" asked Temari attempting to look cute._

_Shikamaru's eyebrow twitched and he forfeited the book to Temari._

"_Thank you," said Temari as she gave Shikamaru an overdramatic hug and fell back to Gaara's side._

_While Shikamaru didn't actually look back to confirm, he was sure that Gaara was giving him one of those psycho killer death glares._

"_Hey, this one person in here seems perfect for you Kiba," Temari announced._

"_What do you mean?" asked Kiba looking back once again._

"_Here," and Temari began to read from the book:_

"_Deidre the Mad, within her beauty lies,  
A feline tenacity, a rage in her eyes.  
A glint of her fangs, a spread of her claws,  
Bode her eating hearts from chests and tongues from jaws."_

"…"

"_Oh come on Kiba, your some weird dog person, and she's some weird cat person, it'd be perfect," noted Sakura with a little laugh at Kiba's expense._

"_I'm not 'some weird dog person' thank you," Kiba yelled then looked back down the road, "and for your information, I'm allergic to cats."_

End Flashback

Outside

"So what's happening now?" Shikamaru asked.

"It appears as if he said something that upset her, and then it seemed like she said something that upset him," Neji answered Byakugan piercing through the wall of the building, "it's really hard to tell if she is making any progress..."

All of a sudden Neji was cut off as there was some rustling behind them. They all spun around anticipating an attack, but they were greeted with a familiar figure.

"Tenten, what are you doing here?" asked Neji.

"Tsunade-sama sent me out here to inform you," she said panting.

"Inform us of what?" Gaara inquired.

"That Naruto has left the village," Tenten answered.

Ending A/N: Yeah, for those of you who probably hate my character, don't worry, his importance/presence waxing and wanes throughout the story. It's just easier to get the story going with someone who is not bound by any laws of their character development in the series. I'll start working on my next chapter whenever I get my paper written, and hopefully my registration reestablished.


	6. Temari's Q&A

A/N: Yeah, I this chapter was probably the most problematic chapter I've had. If you cannot tell we are reading Freud in one of my classes... I'll try to get up the next chapter as soon as possible as an appology for this one. I'd say more, but I want my two hours of sleep before I have to drag myself back to school.

Chapter Six

Temari's Q&A

Temari looked down at the cloth after wiping off the last of the makeup that was on her face. 'What was Sakura thinking?' she asked herself. The wet cloth resembled that of a tie-dye shirt covered in various colors of makeup smeared all over it. She put it down next to her plate, 'ok, now time to get to business.'

Verko, who had been staring off, glanced at her, "you look better."

'A compliment?' Temari's eyes widened a bit, "do you think so?"

"Me, personally," Verko began staring off again, "I don't really care. However, _you_ think you look better."

Temari dove across the table and grabbed the black-eyed man's collar, "DON'T FUCK WITH ME! As if stealing my thoughts weren't enough for you, you had to go a pull that shit on me!"

"Oh," Verko looked straight at her, "I didn't realize you would react that way. I know that your behavior suggested that you were depressed at the moment. Also, I'm aware that you also become depressed because you rarely receive any compliments at all in regards to how you look. Outwardly you tell yourself it must be because boys are afraid of what your brother might do to them, but inwardly you wonder if you are desirable at all."

Temari knew that it was true, but still didn't like it that her thoughts were being told quite blatantly to herself. She released her grip on the collar and retreated across the table. Not that she regretted threatening him, just that she couldn't bear looking into those eyes any longer. They offered no apology, no sorrow, no nothing. They were unreadable and empty.

Verko continued, "I was told by many that I was unable to have a real conversation with someone because I have no skill in being able to tell what a person is _feeling_. However I supposed even if I did, I still cannot speak to people very well. I simply thought that by offering you a compliment we could proceed with your questions more easily, however I suppose I failed."

Temari, sat back on the cushion and turned her head to the side, "You have no social skills whatsoever, and cannot even give someone a compliment correctly. You must have had one fucked up childhood."

"Incorrect," Verko stated, "I didn't have a childhood."

Temari turned back toward him shocked, "how's that?"

"I'm not going to lie down on a couch and tell you about my childhood," Verko began gazing off again, "though, I guess I should stop assuming what you are thinking. Why don't we just get this over with?"

"Oh, ok," Temari thought of the questions she was supposed to ask him.

Q: So you won't be returning to Konoha with us?

A: Not as long as everything goes as planned.

Q: Why did you come to Konoha?

A: To do something.

Q: To destroy those hospital records.

A: If you know that… Then yes, to destroy those records.

Q: Why?

A: If I'd openly tell you that, then I wouldn't have gone through the trouble of destroying them in the first place.

Q: Do you know where Orochimaru is?

A: Not at the moment.

Q: What do you know about Orochimaru?

A: I know that he doesn't eat fish.

Q: Anything else?

A: Nothing that probably isn't known by the Hokage.

Q: Are you trying to make this difficult?

A: No.

Q: Then why are you?

A: To try to dismiss the idea that I know everything.

Q: But your ability…

A: I don't use it that much.

Q: Why not?

Verko stares at her for a moment.

A: …

Q: Ok then… I can take a hint, what is your real name?

A: Verko the Abyss.

Q: No, your _real_ name…

A: Verko the Abyss.

Q: Your parents named you Verko the Abyss?

A: No, they never had the chance, someone else named me Verko. Later, the Abyss was added to it.

Q: How old are you?

A: What good is asking questions about me?

Q: Hey! I'm asking the questions here. Now, how old are you?

A: … Well I have four ages, though I'll only tell you one.

Q: Which one?

A: Guess which.

Temari thought for a second. 'Lets see here… four ages… I know one of them would have to the difference between the year he was born and today. According to that Jiraiya guy, he's must be older than fifty yet looks about twenty. So, that means the second one would have to be his physical age,' Temari thought about what the third would be… as creepy as it seemed, 'the third would have to be the combined age of everyone he's… used that dojustu on. That leaves one left… what the hell would that be…' Temari though about it for a second then looked up to see Verko waiting for her to ask. 'Shit, time for that later, which one would be the most beneficial… Either his real age or the combined age of all those memories he has…"

Q: How many years has it been since you were born?

A: More than five.

Q: Seriously…

A: I am.

Q: You're not going to give me an exact number?

A: No.

Q: Why not?

A: You wouldn't believe me anyways, nobody ever does.

Q: Ok then… questions not about you… What do you know about Akatsuki?

A: Quite a bit, but not much at all. You're going to have to be a bit more specific with your questions.

Q: What is their overall goal?

A: I don't know.

Q: Do you know where they meet?

A: No.

Q: Do you know where any of them are?

A: No.

Q: Then what the fuck do you know about them?

A: I know who all are in Akatsuki… and not much more apart from that.

Q: That's it?

A: Yes, that and for some reason or another they want to collect all the biju.

Q: Biju…

A: Yeah, the Ichibi no Shukaku (One-tailed Shukaku), Nibi no Nekomata (Two-tailed Demon Cat), all the way up to the Kyubi no Yoko (Nine-tailed Demon Fox).

Q: And what do they plan on doing with these biju?

A: Beats the hell out of me.

Temari began to get angry.

Q: Look my little brother happens to have Shukaku in him...

A: I'm aware of that.

Q: And I want to know what they are going to do with him.

A: I told you, I don't know.

Q: You don't?

A: No, what reason would I have to lie?

Q: I don't know, probably plenty of reasons.

A: Look Akasuki's little clubhouse can do whatever they please for all I care. They do no disturb my goals.

Q: And what are your goals?

A: Kill all humans, for one.

Temari saw that this was going nowhere fast.

"You know," Verko spoke up, "I'm not an encyclopedia. You just can't ask me anything and expect a clear-cut answer. Now, I need to go."

"Wait," Temari pleaded, "I'm not finished."

"I am," Verko announced as he stood up, dropped some money on the table, and slipped on his sandals.

Before Temari could say anything else he had slung his cloak and satchel over his shoulder and disappeared down the hallway.

"Damn," she muttered to herself as she got up, pulled on her sandals and walked down the hall.

Whenever she reached the entrance of restaurant, she was surprised to see that Verko was still standing right out the entrance. He was staring at something on the road. Temari peeked her head around to see what he was looking at.

There, in the middle of the road was Naruto, lying down in the middle of the road. On top of him sat Kiba with Akamaru to one side, and Sakura to the other. Sakura had one hand in a fist having apparently struck Naruto as a bulge on his head would testify to. The rest of the group she arrived with the addition of the weapon specialist Tenten were standing behind them. All of them seem to be completely oblivious to her, and Verko's presence.

"What's going on here?" Temari asked stepping out of the resturant.

Everybody looked up and noticed that both Temari and Verko had emerged from the restaurant.

"I have no idea," answered Verko.

"YOU!" yelled Naruto pointed straight at Verko, eyes full of rage.

Verko turned his head, as if to check whether there was somebody behind him then turned back and asked, "Me?"

"You," continued Naruto, "Killed Gai." (A/N: the only instance in the manga where Naruto refers to Gai by name is in 143, which was translated into Mr. Thick-Brows, though I felt this wasn't very appropriate considering the atmosphere.)

"He died?" Verko looked slightly amused at this, "I thought that given the fact that I was injured and Konoha's infamous Medical Specialist Tsunade, they would actually be able to heal him before the effects of that would kill him," Verko shrugged, "Too bad. However, I do get the impression that you didn't run out here just to inform me of that."

"That's right," assured Naruto, "I'm here to KILL YOU!" Naruto began clawing that the ground trying to get out from under Kiba.

Verko dropped his cloak and satchel and crouched down to be more at eye-level with Naruto, "And how exactly where you planning on doing that?"

"I… I…" Naruto stuttered losing some of his intensity.

"Oh, how noble of you, how romantic, running up to the person who killed your comrade and challenging him to a death match without any idea of how to accomplish this. You, want my advice? Go home, and live another day. I assure you, in your profession, you'll become all too used to unavenged deaths."

"No, I won't," raged Naruto.

"Hmm… maybe I should ask," Verko went on, "have you actually killed anybody,_ ever?_"

"…"

"I didn't think so. Men and Monsters, that's your problem; you see me as a monster, a cold, heartless creature which you must slay. However, consider this, if you stare for long into an abyss, the abyss will stare back into you."

"Huh?" Naruto looked confused, "abyss… staring… what are you talking about?"

Everyone just gave Naruto a very annoyed expression.

Verko spoke up first, "You are dumb, but are you really that dumb?"

"I'm not dumb," Naruto retorted, "you're just speaking some funny way I cannot understand."

"He's saying," Neji speaks… "that if you kill him, you'll inevitably will become like him."

"That's not true!" Proclaimed Naruto, "there's no way I'll ever become like him!"

"Really?" Verko showed an expression of fake surprise, "what do you think will happen if you kill me. Your friend won't come back out of my dead body and pat you on the back," Verko paused for a moment, "I look at the people I kill with indifferent eyes. And you, will you look down at my corpse with a smile?"

Naruto looked away, "How do you view life as being so cheap?"

"Through years of experience," Verko pulled on his cloak, strapped on his satchel, got up and turned away, "The death of one person is indeed a tragedy, however the death of a million becomes a statistic."

Verko began walking down the road. Everyone knew exactly what he had done. He worked down and broke Naruto's resolve to kill him. Kiba slowly got off of Naruto allowing Naruto to stand up.

"HEY!" Naruto shouted once again, "I'm not done with you yet."

"But I'm done with you," Verko announced with a wave of his hand.

"No, ACCEPT ME AS YOU APPRENTICE!" Yelled Naruto.

Verko turned around at this, "No."

"You cannot say no," stated Naruto.

"And why not?"

"Ero-Sennin told me that you trained him, and he became very powerful as a result. Ero-Sennin told me that he just had to ask in order for you to accept him." Naruto looked at him, "I don't like you, but to get what I want, I will work with you none the less."

"Another moron seduced by power," Verko stated, "I will tell you this, Ero-Sennin, who I understand to be Jiraiya, failed to mention one thing."

"What's that?" asked Naruto.

"While it is true that I would accept anyone who asks, they have to be able to make it back to my place of origin in order to be trained."

"HAH! That doesn't sound very hard." A grin spreading across Naruto's face.

"Out of two thousand, six hundred, sixty-one people who asked to be my apprentice, only 13 have ever been able to accomplish this task." A faint smile could be seen on Verko's face.

A/N: Yeah, I really didn't like how this chapter flowed, but that was the best way I saw possible to setup the next chain of events, which doesn't seem as... unnatural as this... I guess that is what I didn't like about this chapter, it doesn't have that natural flow that I've been striving for... but then again, my others were written with words just shooting out of my head, this one was like a grinder. Like I said, I'll get the next one, which is much more entertaining and natural than this one, up within the next few days. Next Time, I Can Make You Fail.

Quotes used: "If you stare for long into an abyss, the abyss will stare back into you" Nietzsche; "The death of one person is a tragety, the death of a million, a statistic," Stalin


	7. I can make you fail

A/N: Sorry this took so long to do, but the past month has been hell. I've had to move all my stuff four times and get a whole lot of "school" things going. But I won't rant on with excuses, to all those who have been waiting here is my newest chapter.

Chapter Seven

I can make you fail

Shikamaru could feel the crisp grass crunch under his feet as he made his way to the tree and the shade. His aching body felt a wave of relief as he sat down leaning against the tree. He was so tired, there wouldn't even be a moment to waste err spend on watching the clouds pass by. He closed his eyes and was about to allow the alluring grip of sleep wash over him when he heard someone approaching. He opened on of his eyes to see the silhouette of a familiar person.

"Temari, what do you want?" Shikamaru asked quite bluntly.

"Well well well, straight to the point huh?" Temari walked over and sat down beside him, "do you think he is trying to kill us?"

"Kill us? How?" Shikamaru allowed his opened eye to close.

"All of this walking," Temari explained, "… he only lets us sleep for three hours a day… the only reasonable explanation is that he is attempting to drive us until we simply quit from exhaustion."

"Pity," Shikamaru said, "I only know of two people who could verify that but one of them has already died and the other is only seen whenever he wants to be."

"So you believe that this is actually part of his apprentice trial?" inquired Temari.

"No," answered Shikamaru, "I'm simply saying that when it comes to that Verko we shouldn't make assumptions. Assumptions lead to miscalculations, and with dangerous people, that can get you killed."

Temari looked away, towards the others who were all sleeping on the side of the road. Naruto had simply fallen asleep on the road, but Verko was sitting on a rock eating these weird biscuits that he carries with him and Gaara was standing beside him. To add to Verko's already weird properties, his hair had grown two feet longer in the first three days they've been following him. His bangs ran down the sides of his head, framing his face, and his hair in the back was tied off with a red ribbon slightly below the base of his neck.

"Anyways," Shikamaru added, "I've never heard of anyone dying from lack of sleep."

"Well," Temari started, "I guess if we want to play it your way and suppose he'll do the worst thing possible, what would happen if he keeps us at this for another month."

Shikamaru grunted at the thought.

"Or worse," Temari continued, "It seems as if he only takes about five minutes to eat his food then he just sits there, so he is more giving us this time to rest rather than it being an actual period of time for eating."

"So?" asked Shikamaru.

Temari cracked him on the side of the head with her fist.

"Ow, why'd you do that for?" Shikamaru rubbed the side of his head.

"Because you are a moron," Temari cracked her knuckles, "if he only needs five minutes to eat, then what is stopping him from shortening the time he allows us to rest to five minutes?"

"If Verko hasn't already," Shikamaru thought out loud, "then Verko most likely won't. However, I've already thought of a plan incase he does."

"And what is that?" Asked Temari amused.

"I'm going to go home," answered Shikamaru.

"Oh, there it is," Temari snorted, "I was wondering when your more lazy persona was going to come out."

"What's wrong with that?" Shikamaru settled up against the tree, "I'm not even supposed to be here."

"_So, Old Man Verko," Naruto spoke up._

_Verko didn't even bother to look over, "what do you mean 'old man?'"_

"_Well, you are Ero-Sennin sensei, so that ought to mean that you're older…" explained Naruto, "Sooo that means you're no better than Tsunade-Bachan who hides her age."_

"_I don't hide my age," Verko stated, "I just choose to not tell anybody."_

"_Why not?" Naruto asked._

"_Several reasons," Verko explained, "First off, I have more than one age, and secondly my actual age is incomprehendable."_

"_What do you mean incomprehendable?"_

"_I mean that people refuse to believe that people can live past a certain age," Verko stated._

"_Yeah, so?" asked Naruto._

"_I am well past that age," Verko announced._

"_So how old are you?" asked Naruto again._

"_You'll know in due time," Verko continued walking, "however, I would like to know why all of your friends are tagging along."_

_Naruto looks back. The entire group that assembled outside of the resturant earlier that day had been walking behind him. Though, who could blame them? Consitering who they were traveling with, anyone would be curious enough to follow. The one thing that was concerning Naruto was the ridiculous number of people who failed whatever this old man's test is. Though Naruto was sure that he would pass. If this old man was able to make Jiraiya and the Forth Hokage as powerful as they were, he could become powerful enough to get Sasuke back. _

"_Do you have a problem if they do?" asked Naruto._

"_Absolutely not," answered Verko then added, "but if anyone will have a problem with their presence it would be you."_

'That was four weeks ago,' Shikamaru thought, however, about that statement Verko made... If anything their presence helped Naruto hold out, well Gaara mostly, Verko must already know about what Gaara is capable of lasting long periods of time without sleep. There must be something more there. Suddenly a dull pain shot through the side of his head.

"Wake up!" Temari half-shouted.

"I am awake," Shikamaru retorted.

"Are Not."

"Are Too."

"Are Not."

"Man, reduced to having to act like children," Shikamaru said, "I guess the lack of sleep does get to you."

"Yeah," Temari agreed, "And though I hate to admit it, I have no good ideas how to get more time to rest from him."

"Hmm…" Shikamaru was hoping that it wouldn't have to come to him doing some sort of work to try to get something out of Verko, suddenly an idea struck him, "Temari."

"Yes?" Temari answerd.

"Whenever you spoke to Verko, was he at all able to use the information he knew about you to aid in his conversation?" Shikamaru asked.

"That's an odd question," Temari pondered, "but to answer it, No. If anything him knowing my mind," the thought of it still bothered her, "made it worse."

"Great," said Shikamaru standing up, "this might just work."

"Wait, your actually going to do work?" Temari was impressed at his slight initiative.

"Hey, don't get any funny ideas, just that it would be more troublesome to sit here talking to you when I should be resting than it would be to try to get us more rest… which is what I want anyways… even if I have to work at him," Shikamaru held his head, "I guess I really need some more rest."

"What are you going to do?" Temari asked, now doubting Shikamaru's state of mind.

Shikamaru didn't answer but walked… more wobbled away.

Temari watched him walking toward Verko and Gaara and for a moment she thought of seeing what was up his sleeve, however she surcame to her need to sleep and dozed off.

"We need more sleep," Shikamaru stated.

"You've lasted this long," Verko looked up from his rock, "you can last longer."

"You know we need more than three hours a day," Shikamaru tried to read Verko's expression.

"Everyone here, with the exception of you and him," Verko motions towards Gaara, "are sleeping just like they have been yesturday, last week, the week before that. What makes today any different?"

"We just need more time," Shikamaru couldn't "what do you say I fight you for more time?"

"Fight me?" Verko seemed rather uninterested, "are you planning on tiring me out to the point where I'd have to rest longer or are you going to try to injure me."

"Neither. I don't enjoy doing very much work nor do I have a death wish so I won't try to tire you out or hurt you," Shikamaru explained, "how's about we play a game of shogi with more time to rest with more time to rest being the prize."

"I usually don't ask for clarification on anything," Verko started, "but you want me to play a game that you are ridiculously good at…"

Shikamaru nods.

"and you'll get to have more rest if you win…"

Shikamaru nods.

"but I don't get anything if I win?"

"Well," Shikamaru looked away, "I would have mentioned some prize for you in the even that you won, but you aren't so it would have been a waste of time to think of something."

"How, sure of yourself," Verko positioned himself on one end of the rock, "I'll play with the stakes being 3 extra hours of rest for now if you win."

"And if I lose?" Shikamaru ask.

Verko blinked, "I thought you weren't going to lose."

Shikamaru made an almost pissed face.

"If you lose I would have seen you wasting away your valuable resting time playing a game against me," Verko answered, "how does that sound?"

"Sounds good," Shikamaru replied.

-

"Checkmate!"

Temari's eyes shot open at the word. She looked down to where Verko had been to find him sitting on one side of the rock he had been on with Shikamaru on the other side. Between them was a small shogi board with pieces all over the place.'I'm pretty sure that was Shikamaru's voice I heard,' she thought to herself as she got up and made her way down to investigate.

Shikamaru looked across the board at Verko who was searching for a way out of the situation, after being convinced that there was no possible way for the game to go any farther, he let out a breath of air and turned his head up to Shikamaru.

"I guess you won," Verko admitted.

"Don't forget," Shikamaru reminded, "Now, we have three hours and ten minutes rest from this point."

"I remember," Stated Verko.

Verko grabbed his empty water gourd, reached into his satchel that was beside him and fished out a second one. He stood up and began walking away from the rock towards the woods.

"Where are you going?" asked Shikamaru.

"Getting more water," answered Verko, not looking back.

"So I take it you won?" asked Temari, just getting close.

"Yes," Shikamaru was already ready to cash in on his sleep.

"Was it difficult?" asked Temari, curious.

Shikamaru looked down at the board, "Verko had absolutely no overall strategy for winning. However he had several very good moves which lead me to believe that I was missing something, however, in the end I guess I wasn't."

"How much extra time did you buy us?" Temari was

"Three extra hours," answered Shikamaru.

"A day?" Temari was hopeful.

"No, just today." Answered Shikamaru nearly asleep while sitting.

Temari punched the side of Shikamaru's head, "One day! Is that it?"

"That's all he offered," Shikamaru was rubbing his head, "Did you have to hit me so hard?"

"What is that guy doing anyways?" Asked Temari looking towards the woods entered.

"Verko's getting more water for himself," answered Shikamaru.

"Does he do that often?" Temari looked toward her brother.

"Everyday after eating his lunch," Gaara was as distant as ever.

"Hmm… we were always asleep while he ate lunch, so I guess we never noticed it," Temari sat down on the rock.

"Notice what?" Shikamaru asked, nearly asleep.

"Notice that he leaves his bag here," Temari pulled the aged leather satchel onto her lap.

Shikarmaru seemed to wake up from his daze, "I wouldn't…"

"That's why I am," finished Temari.

Temari opened the satchel and looked inside to some disappointment. There was a gourd labeled Sake that was empty, a cloth that wrapped up hardtacks that he ate and a book of the Icha Icha series. Temari felt a hand snake around her and grab the Icha Icha book and pull it out. She turned to see Shikamaru flipping through the pages of the book.

"Shikamaru!" Temari was shocked.

"Look at this," Shikamaru said and he pulled the Icha Icha cover off to reveal that there was a small pocket notebook inside of it.

"Ooo, lemme see that," Temari snatched the book out of Shikamaru's hand and started flipping through it.

Temari started from the back of the book and was flipping through empty pages until she could was what was most recently added to it. The pages were unlined and seemed to have turned color from age. She came to a page, about halfway through, that had something on it and stopped. Temari saw a rather good rendition of her holding her opened fan with her outstretched arm. Long, thin arrows seem to trace the flow of chakra out of her body and across her fan. On the page opposite to this drawing was a lot of writing.

"What does that say?" asked Shikamaru, looking over her shoulder.

"I can't read it," admitted Temari.

"Why not?"

"Apparently he has terrible handwriting," Temari explained.

Temari turned to the next page, which had some male ninja who was performing some sort of aquatic ability. After looking at this, she started flipping through rather quickly. Suddenly an arm shot down from over her shoulder and stopped it on one of the pages.

Gaara's fingers turned the notebook back a few pages before coming upon an image that had caught his eye. Another male ninja drawn from the side with his fists clenched tight and his mouth seeming to be shouting some sort of war cry was on the page. Around this ninja was sand, lines showed the flow of chakra emitted from the man manipulating the sand to attack while other lines showed the flow of chakra from the sand which was being used to form a shield.

"Are you sure you cannot read it?" Gaara asked as his eyes scanned the scribbles of writing that covered the page opposite the drawing.

"Yes, I'm sure," Temari reassured her brother.

Gaara stared at the picture for several more seconds before withdrawing his hand allowing Temari to flip through the notebook again. Temari stopped on the only page thus far that had an animal on it, a fox.

"Oh my god," Shikamaru exclaimed, "that's the Kyubi."

Temari looked at the picture, "I don't think so…"

"No," reaffirmed Shikamaru, "I've seen images of the Kyubi, and it looks just like that."

"Well…" Temari looked back down at the image, "for it to be the Kyubi, how many tails must it have?"

"Huh?" Shikamaru looked at the picture and began counting, '1…2…3…4…5……' "that's impossible."

"Tell me about it," Temari joked.

"Is it humanly possible for someone to be over four hundred years old?" Shikamaru speculated.

"You're the one who said, 'don't make assumptions about him,'" Temari reminded, "those eyes of his alone seem to place him out of the realm of humane possibilities."

Shikamaru was about the make a remark about Gaara sand not being very human either but decided it'd be best not to bring it up. In fact if you would go about one thousand years with any chakra manipulating abilities of today and you may be seen as… Suddenly an idea hit him, his eyes shot over to the place Verko disappeared. Then all of a sudden his more rational mind took back over, 'no, that's impossible.'

Temari was about to flip through more of the notebook, but she noticed the corner of something peeking out from under the front cover of it. She pinched the corner and pulled out a small black and white photograph. It seemed to be ancient, even compared to the notebook and satchel. On it were a group of five children who appeared to be no older than six or seven and were sitting on a large rock.

Leaning on one end of the rock was a rather large boy who was completely bald. Next to him was another boy with a mop of hair and was carrying a kama that seemed to be three times longer than he was. In the middle is a boy with shorter hair and appeared quite normal. Beside him was the only girl in the picture who had long hair and a very distant gaze in her eyes. Then on the end was a boy who wasn't even looking toward the camera and didn't appear to have any eyes at all.

"Is that Verko…" Started Shikamaru.

"As a child?" Finished Temari.

"I doubt he was born a twenty year old man," stated Gaara.

"Just seems unreal that he could have ever been so young," Temari turned the picture over and read what was on the back, "_Verko, you better not lose this or I'll peel the flesh off of your face, -D_"

"D?" wondered Shikamaru outloud.

"Wait," Temari looked at Shikamaru, "what was the name of the girl from that poem."

"Diedre, why?" the answer came to Shikamaru, "No, that's impossible," he rationalized, "at any rate, Verko'll probably be back soon, so let's just put that all away."

-

'Three extra hours just made it worse,' Shikamaru thought as he slowly walked down the road near the end of the line. He felt sorer than anything else from the extra sleep. The monotony of the walking has really been getting to him lately. 'Day in… day out, how long would they really last like this?' he asked himself. 'Verko is totally unfazed by any of this, if he really wanted to, He could simply make us fail.' All of a sudden the line stopped and Shikamaru focused his attention to what was in the front of the line.

In front of the line stood an older Iwa-nin and with him were three young children around the age of eight. The Iwa-nin seemed surprised at the group while the children were simply terrified.

"That's… That's… Black eyes…." One of the two young boys stammered.

"Verko the Abyss," The young girl finished.

"Quick, don't look into his eyes!" the Iwa-nin shouted as he clenched his eyes shut.

The Iwa-nin began to shoot through hand signs while the group prepared to take whatever was going to be thrown their way. However, before the Iwa-nin could have finished whatever jutsu he had began, Verko was already standing right in front of him. Verko's arm shot out and pressed into the stomach of the Iwa-nin.

Before the Iwa-nin was even able to get out a cry of shock, blood began to shoot out like geysers from many large gashes that ruptured all over his body. As the former Iwa-nin's blood, and body began to fall to the ground, Verko maneuvered around him, snatching the child who had began to identify him. Holding the child's face with his hand, Verko raised him up to eye level with himself.

"NO!" the boy managed to cry before the back of his skull exploded outwards firing off brain matter over the road.

The group watch in shock at the mutilization of young boy. As each of them finally understood that Verko meant to kill them all, they noticed at Verko, now gasping to catch his breath, had positioned himself between the two remaining children. Verko's hands rested on each of their shoulders.

"My would-be apprentice," Verko addressed through his gasps, "we have reached a roadblock in this journey of ours."

"Huh?" Naruto still trying to take in what is happening.

"For you to continue following me," Verko looked dead at Naruto, "I must ask that you kill at least one of these children."

A/N: Ooo... another one of these endings. Hopefully I'll get the next one done in another two weeks... I guess I'll be more realistic now... man and this was almost done weeks ago, however my battery died while I was getting seached to hell and back at the Airport... I swear I didn't know the new rules... whatever. Next Time: we get to see Naruto's decision, hopefully written slightly better than this. There will be more character fun in a few chapters. Now I'm off to watch more Godard... RxR, if you want, I always enjoy being reading those, but if as many people who have been reading continue to, I'll be happy none the less.


	8. Showdown

A/N: Ok after four long months, I've come up with something. This was going to be the first half of what was going to be a longer chapter, but I broke it down cause there was a good point to break. Hopefully I'll get the rest of it finished and up "soon." I've found new motivation that Bleach is off of it's filler episodes and Naruto will so do so as well.

Chapter Eight

Showdown

"What did you say?"

"You heard me," Verko said annoyed, "To be able to continue, Naruto will have to kill atleast one of these children."

"And what would you do if I refuse?" Asked Naruto angered at the lack of sympathy Verko was displaying.

"Well, first I will have you kindly leave," Verko still hadn't caught his breath, "then I will have to kill these two children myself. Bare in mind I've already used two techniques, so it will probably take awhile to do it."

"Bastard, how can you calmly stand there and talk about killing children without any reason at all?" Tenten spoke up, seeming speaking for the entire group who looked outraged at the eye-less man.

"My reason for it is irrelevant," Verko looked past Naruto to Tenten, "But Naruto on the other hand," Verko's glance switched back to Naruto, "does have a good reason to kill these children. First off, he cannot train under me unless he kills these children."

"That's not good enough to make me kill children," Naruto retorted.

"Let me ask you a question," Verko looked straight into Naruto's eyes, "have you ever killed anyone before?"

Naruto answered with an angered look.

"No?" asked Verko.

No answer came from Naruto whose teeth were clenched in rage.

"That usually means yes," Verko turned up the the sky for a moment, "also very often it is difficult for someone to kill for the first time, however you still should have no sympathies for these children."

"Why the hell wouldn't I?" asked Naruto.

"Because they are belong to another village," Verko looked at him as a fool could have worked it out.

"So?"

"They are part of another village, another village whom your village will probably fight. Whenever that happens these children will be part of the Iwa…. Who are going to be killing off your friends and family from your village," Verko stated as if to a child, "sooner or later, you will eventually have to kill them off in order to destroy them as a threat to you."

"We aren't at war with iwa right now," Sakura stated remembering however the Hokage having to constantly go over plans incase any other village in the area may decided to mobilize and attack Konoha.

"You most likely will be," Verko responded.

"And how can you know that?" asked Naruto.

"I don't know it," Verko admitted, "but in the past, whenever there are great powers such as your villages of today, there is always a war between them all in every generation."

"And how far back does this knowledge of yours go?" Temari asked hoping to get an answer to a question that's been on her mind out of Verko.

Verko looked at Temari, taking a moment's pause as if to alert her to the fact that he is consciously giving this information out, "Nine-Hundred Forty-Seven years of past. War from whenever I opened my eyes, to whenever I first closed them, and nothing but war ever since. On, that note, I _have_ seen children as young as these two actively engaged in combat."

"947, That's impossible," Naruto said, breaking ever so slightly out of his anger.

"Believe me, it is," Verko stated, "Although, we shouldn't get sidetracked by my age, you are still going to have to kill one of these children."

"No matter what you say, I cannot kill them, it wouldn't be right," Naruto reaffirmed.

"The older these children get the more of a threat they'll present to you," Verko assured, "they could become soldiers fighting against you, or interrogators torturing your friends standing behind you. Do you know what it is like to be tortured?"

Naruto didn't dignify that with an answer.

"I can tell you, it is not very pleasant," Verko tilted his head so that Gaara was now in his sight, "this is exactly how your job works."

"No. It isn't," Naruto asserted.

"If you were presented a mission to assassinate two children such as these," Verko shook one of them who had their head buried in their forearms, "you can either accept or decline the mission. However, the mission just doesn't go away after that. Your leader will just turn to the next person and ask if they would do it."

"While in theory, that is true," Neji noted.

"Neji!" Tenten gasped.

"It is still no reason to cold bloodedly murder a pair of children," Neji finished.

"You don't _have_ to kill them," Verko told Neji, "Naruto doesn't _have_ to kill them. However, in the end, they _will_ be dead."

"Or I could just take you down," Naruto stated.

" 'Take me down'?" Verko looked questionably at Naruto, "as in you would beat me into submission while all the while hoping that neither you, these children, or any of your friends get injured while you do that?"

No response.

"The fights between the best of shinobi, where atleast one side is willing to kill, are the shortest fights that exist," Verko continued, "if you attack me without the intent to kill me, you will just cause the ensuing fight to drag on longer, thus causing more people to become injured."

"I hate to admit it," Shikamaru mumbled so that Naruto, but not Verko can hear him, "but that is a correct assessment. He holds the advantage if you were to try to attack him."

There was a pause where Naruto just looked toward the ground, hands clenched into fists and teeth grinded shut.

"The ground offers no answers," Verko stated.

"Did the others who trained under you have to do this?" Naruto asked, still looking at the ground.

The thought of it passed through the others. While none of them had ever known the Forth Hokage, from stories they've heard, such an atrocity would seem impossible for such a man to commit. Several of them have encountered Jirayia, however, he too would seem incapable of doing such a thing.

"That is irrelevant," Verko answered, "it has nothing to do with the situation."

"Tell me!" Naruto shouted.

"No," Verko responded.

"TELL ME!"

"You are not in a position to give orders," Verko replied, "but if you must know, all that I will tell you is that I've never met a great man who has never soiled his hands."

Naruto looked back at Verko eyes red in rage.

"Those are very peculiar eyes," Verko noted, "I wonder if I am still speaking to Naruto because all the physical form of Naruto represents happens to be a prison for the Kyuubi no-Kitsune."

Naruto let out a shriek of rage as red chakra exploded forth from his body enveloping Verko and the two children. The group, behind Naruto also felt the force of the blast having to jump back at the intensity of it. As the dust kicked up from the blast settled they saw that the two children were now lying on the ground and Verko, who had had his satchel and most of his cloak torn off was struggling to stay on his knees.

Verko's joints shaking, he manages to get back to his feet in a series of jerky movements. However, the moment Verko manages to stand up, he is greeted by Naruto, in single-tailed form charging straight at him. While attempting to dodge, Verko's left arm is seized by Naruto, who tears it from its socket as Naruto passes by Verko. Verko, turns toward Naruto, clutching his left shoulder as Naruto came to a stop and turns around, Verko's arm still at hand.

"My arm," Verko started, "It hurts, It hurts through and through. It hurts so much it feels as if someone has just torn it off," Verko seemed very calm for just having his arm ripped off, "give it back to me."

The fox form of Naruto simply tossed the arm into the arm and passed through it with it's chakra tail, turning it into dust. With a certain amount of satisfaction in its posture, it shifted as if to attack again.

"I see," Verko declared, "if this is all there is to you," Verko held out his blood soaked hand with a flat palm and curled fingers, "then I'll have to respond with appropriate force."

The fox form then charged again, this time, Verko managed to duck below the fox form's sweeping swipe of it's claws. Then, Verko, from below, thrust his hand straight into the fox form's belly. That instant, still in mid-trust, the fox form reaches down, grabs Verko's one arm, flips over in the air, then lifts Verko into the air and whipping him towards the ground five meters away.

The fox form, seemingly unfazed by whatever Verko had done to him pounces on Verko, takes a swipe across his face, tearing out Verko's eyes. It then proceeded to tear open Verko's gut and rip away pieces of flesh and intestine. However, with each swipe the fox form made, more and more of the red chakra flung off his body. Then there was only Naruto who looked down at his blood soaked hands, Verko's entrails still sticking onto it, then let out a scream.

A/N: Ouch, that would hurt... but don't worry, the story isn't over, far from over... granted I ever finish it. I know it in my head up to a certain point, but after that I don't know, but I'll worry about that when I get there.


	9. Aftermath

Chapter Nine

Aftermath

Kankuro hated the village elders. He hated the way that they talked, he hated the way that they thought, he hated damn near everything about them. This was all that was going through his mind as he stood outside the door which lead to the meeting room. Kankoro took a deep breath, turned the knob and walked in.

"Gaara will be absent for awhile," Kankuro said as he took his seat, "so I'll be filling in for his administrative duties."

The others stirred for awhile before one of them decided to ask what they were all thinking, "And to what service is our Kazekage needed that would overshadow the needs of this village?"

It was just that kind of talk that made Kankuro hate them. He tried to word the mission that he didn't think merited the skills of a kazekage the best he could.

"He's on a information gathering mission on a particularly dangerous individual," was all he could think up of.

"Is it a member of this 'Akasuki' we keep hearing about?" asked on particularly old elder who lifted a glass of water to his mouth.

"No, some person who goes by the name Verko," Kankuro quickly answered.

An expression of horror filled the faces of the older elders while the one who asked choked on his water for a moment.

"V… V… Verko the Abyss?" One of them stammered.

"Yes," Kankuro answered, "Do you know of him?"

The elders seemed to have only heard the 'yes' and begin to murmur amongst themselves.

"He's still alive?" one asked.

"Do you think he'll attack us?" another asked.

"We should improve our village defenses for the time being," a third suggested.

"You think he may have already killed the kazekage?"

"We should start on lists just in case we need a new kazekage."

With that last statement Kankuro slammed his fist on the table, shutting everyone up.

"Silence!" he yelled then demanded, "there will be no talk of a replacement kazekage. Now, someone tell me how you know of this man."

The elder who choked on his water wiped his mouth with a cloth and began to explain, "Some forty-five years ago when the village placed the Shukaku within another vessel, it was determined that the vessel was too unstable and must be destroyed. Thus we offered a reward to anyone who could destroy the embodiment of Shukaku.

"Several tried and miserably failed. No one volunteered after the first several had failed and after a few months the village was about the give up on outsourcing such an assassin. However at the last moment the man who called himself Verko the Abyss took on the challenge."

"And?" Kankuro inquired.

The elder swallowed then continued, "He defeated the embodiment of Shukaku in less than a minute."

"Why would you think he'd kill Gaara or try to attack the village?" Kankuro asked.

"Toward the end, we didn't think that anyone would be able to do it, so the reward for the kill was more than the treasury of the entire village. He took all we had, without one word of protest but I would imagine he's still pissed about that."

"Have you had any contact with him ever since then?"

"No," the elder quickly answered.

"Not exactly," another corrected.

"What do you mean?" Kankuro asked, although he had an idea of the answer.

"When it was determined that Gaara was out of control we attempted to recruit his services again, but he could not be found."

"Is this Verko really that powerful?"

"Despite all I have seen," the elder who choked on his water commented, "the only two things that I still have nightmares about are Verko the Abyss and that Tathagata."

* * *

"It has been an hour, why are we still just standing around here?" Temari asked Shikamaru.

The others had been long gone, leaving Shikamaru, Temari and Gaara behind having been assured by Shikamaru that they'll take care of the bodies that were still scattered all over the place. After the others had left the clearing Shikamaru had told Temari and Gaara not to bother with the bodies and just to wait. The wait, although not bothering Gaara to any visible level had been bugging Temari since Shikamaru told them to wait.

"Because," Shikamaru looked serious, "the situation isn't safe."

"What does that mean?" Gaara asked coldly staring off into space.

"It means Verko isn't dead," Shikamaru answered.

Gaara and Temari looked at Shikamaru with disbelief but then heard the sound of clapping. All three of them turned to see Verko standing there in his cloak with the hood down, slowly clapping as he walked towards them on the path.

"I… Impossible," Temari stuttered out, shocked that the man was still alive, "we saw you…"

Temari pointed to where Verko's body was supposed to be. However, when she looked at the body she was pointing at she noticed that what remained of it didn't look like Verko's body but someone else's.

"It's never impossible," Verko explained, "improbable, definitely, but if it was impossible I wouldn't be alive."

After a brief pause, Verko spoke again, "I wonder if I took the wrong person to be my apprentice, since it was you," Verko nodded towards Shikamaru, "that seems to be doing all the work."

Shikamaru just gave Verko a dirty look.

"So when did you find out?" Verko asked.

"From the moment you told Naruto that he would have to kill those children," Shikamaru answered, "but I was suspicious beforehand."

"and why did you choose these people to stay behind?" Verko inquired.

"I stayed because I knew it was a ruse," Shikamaru answered, "I had Gaara stay because he would have the best chance of killing you in a fight, and Temari…"

"because if I killed you, you would want to be near someone who had feelings toward you?" finished Verko.

"What, NO!" Shikamaru answered slightly flustered, "I had her stay because she was the only person who has actually fought you previously."

Shikamaru was trying to place himself back in the mindset he was in before Verko had spoken when he noticed Temari stomp past him and straight up to Verko.

Temari, full of rage, grabbed Verko's collar, lifted him up and little, and then struck him as hard as she could across the face, which threw him to the ground.

"If you ever use any of my memories ever again I will kill you," Temari declared.

The thing that amazed everybody was that she was able to do this without any retaliation from Verko. 'He planned that,' Shikamaru speculated.

Verko got up and began dusting himself off, "So, does this mean that you don't intend to kill me now?"

Shikamaru didn't want a fight with Verko. In terms of lethality, Verko definitely had the upper hand, however they did outnumber Verko three to one. Shikamaru had been waiting for Verko to make the decision as to whether or not they would fight, although he wanted to be ready if they would end up fighting. Shikamaru breathed a short sigh of relief.

"I don't know," answered Temari, "I think the world would be a better place without you in it."

"Really?" asked Verko, "you think that?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Just that that was the argument my mother used when she convinced my father to try to kill me by slicing her pregnant body in two." Verko answered.

Silence.

"Why didn't you just take it whenever you first killed them?" Shikamaru asked.

"First?" Temari asked, puzzled.

"There's absolutely no way that any of this was coincidental. We've been walking for weeks and have never seen anyone else at all. Then today, the one day where you had an extended absence, when you let us sleep longer, we just happen to bump into others," Shikamaru explained, mostly to Verko, "so you must have killed them earlier while you claimed that you were getting water, then somehow reanimated them. Because your methods of killing them would ravish their insides anyways, we would never know the difference afterward. So you must have used your eyes on them then used your remaining chakra to animate them, making one look like you, thus completing the ruse."

"You are a clever one," Verko noted, "however you are still wrong."

Verko collected the last bit of money then began applying explosive notes to each of the bodies.

"Wrong?" Shikamaru was intrigued, "how?"

"Young minds are easier to digest," Verko explained as he worked on, "however, the manner in which the person kills him or herself is very unpredictable, and I lack the ability to keep such exterior wounds hidden for that long. Considering what you know about me, your original analysis would be correct, however there are many aspects that you don't know."

"Such as?" Shikamaru asked.

"Do you want to kill me?" Verko asked, in reply.

"Why would you ask that?"

"People try to find the whys and the hows of everything in order to find loopholes around everything," Verko explained as he finished applying explosive tags to the bodies, "the more information I tell you, the more at risk I will be."

"Always looking out for number one, right?" Temari scoffed.

"There are two ways of attacking someone," Verko finished with the explosives and walked away from them, "kill the head and hope the body will fall apart, or simply bleed the body dry."

"However, that usually applies to strategies against groups not one person," Shikamaru noted, never passing the chance to speculate on strategy.

"That may be true," Verko admitted, "though I am easily susceptible to either strategy. Surviving as long as I have could only be attributed to caution and luck."

"Wait, was that thing about your age really true?" Temari asked, having wanted to know his age for quite some time now.

"Unlike you people who live by lies and deceptions," the bodies finally blew up, causing charred remains to scatter around, "I prefer more direct approaches."

"So you're saying you don't lie," Gaara interpreted.

"No, I'm saying I don't prefer to lie." Verko corrected.

"That's right…." Shikamaru thought aloud, "that makes perfect sense."

Everyone turned toward Shikamaru.

"What makes perfect sense?" asked Verko.

"You used to be a mercenary, which means that you used to have to deal with well defined sides and alliances, in terms of wars," Shikamaru speculated, "your unique skill would allow you not only to kill scores of people, but also interrogate them while you are at it. Owing to the fact that they'd kill themselves, and you know that they are on the other side, there was no chance for a mistake. However now with shinobi, determining one's allegiance becomes very difficult."

"What would make you think I formerly was a mercenary?" Verko asked as he started to walk back down the road toward where Naruto had headed off.

Shikamaru reached into his pack and pulled out the book that he in which he read about Verko's past and handed it to the man who was a character within it. Verko snatched the book and began flipping through the pages while walking in the direction the others had gone.

The other two began to follow Verko trying to take everything in but were stopped by Shikamaru who nodded down at his hand. The others looked down at his hand and saw that there had been some blood smeared across it.

* * *

A/N: SORRY, believe me, I'm really trying to update more often however it is difficult to do while trying to juggle eighteen credits... However my Asian Religions class have given me some inspiration to supplement what I plan on writing in the future. Well, summer semester is coming soon, hopefully bring more time with which to write. 


End file.
